


Cables

by Hermaline75



Series: Darcy, Loki, and the Yarn Store [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Anal Sex, Exploration, F/F, F/M, Human AU, Internal Conflict, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Polyamory, Therapy, Threesome - F/M/M, Vaginal Sex, Yarn shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-22 02:51:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 22,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1573412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermaline75/pseuds/Hermaline75
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy tries to decide what she wants out of her increasingly complex relationship with Loki and agrees to help an old friend of Thor's with a difficult problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was difficult to get out of Loki’s bed once you’d ended up in it.

Darcy splashed water on her face and mused over this... this thing again. She’d spent far too much time trying to figure out what the hell this thing even was already.

They weren’t dating. They weren’t romantically involved at all, it was just a friends-with-benefits thing.

Thing. That was a word that kept showing up.

Loki called it a ‘Thing’.

One of many ‘Things’ he had with many different people.

Darcy knew she wasn’t special. This wasn’t special. He wasn’t special to her either.

“What are you doing?”

Ah, so he was awake. And she was in his apartment. Again. The third time this month that she’d woken up here.

“I’m about to brush my teeth,” she responded, hurriedly snatching her spare toothbrush from the holder.

She kept a toothbrush here. It was too... normal. And yet not normal at all. Not normal for her anyway.

Her mouth was full of toothpaste foam when Loki appeared behind her and slung his arms around her waist.

“It’s Sunday...” he said, resting his head against hers, temple to temple.

She hummed her agreement to this statement. _Correct, it is Sunday_.

“The store doesn’t open on Sundays...” he continued.

She took her toothbrush out of her mouth and made curious eye-contact with him in the mirror.

“We don’t have to do anything. We could stay in bed. All day.”

She shook out of his grasp to spit.

“Or... we could sort and catalogue the storeroom,” she said. “It needs done.”

“And then come back to bed?”

“I guess.”

“Come on, Darce, last night was great even for us. Can you blame me for suggesting a second round?”

It had been pretty great. They’d been a little tired so he’d held her and kissed her deep and slow to match their fucking. All passion, no exertion.

She didn’t have feelings for him, other than friendship and lust. But at the same time she felt almost offended that he didn’t have any for her. It was stupid really.

“Sure,” she said. “I’d like that. We can have dinner first and everything. It’ll be nice.”

He swept her hair back and kissed her neck. “OK. I’m going to shower. Care to join me?”

“No, it’s OK. I’ll wait ‘til you’re done. I’ll make coffee downstairs.”

He frowned slightly as she rinsed her mouth.

She almost regretted it as the sound of the shower running followed her down to the ground floor. He’d never promised her romance. She’d never wanted romance. But she felt... not used, exactly. She loved the Thing, she was happy with the Thing, and the Thing was entirely amicable. And physical.

And she didn’t want to be exclusive. Loki having other Things was fine. She was allowed to have other Things too, if she wanted.

For all they’d talked about it, they were yet to invite anyone else into bed with them. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to or not. It was more that she wanted to know what Loki would do when someone else was touching her. Would he be possessive? Would he like it to see her coming undone at the hands of someone else?

She wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore.

Loki appeared when she was on her second cup of coffee.

“Shower’s all yours.” he said.

“Thanks.”

“And I’ll make a start on the storeroom while you’re gone. Did you want things alphabetized or arranged by color?”

“Shut up, you know how to do it. Brand, yarn type, color, amount. Like it’s always been.”

“Yeah, I know…”

She used Loki’s shampoo and towels. She got dressed in Loki’s room. Last night she wore his t-shirt and slept in his bed.

This had all the hallmarks of a relationship, apart from the emotions.

She kind of wanted the emotions, just... not with Loki.

He didn’t want those emotions. He’d told her that from the beginning. And she wasn’t going to force him into something he didn’t want. Certainly not when she didn’t want it either.

This was temporary. This was not endgame. But years and years of fairytale style true love propaganda had possibly taken its toll. It had been years since she’d been in any kind of relationship, not since her first year of college, and she’d thought that guy was the One. He wasn’t. And that was fine and normal and she’d moved on. And back then, she’d sworn that she’d never get involved with someone who she couldn’t imagine spending the rest of her life with.

She tried to imagine spending the rest of her life in the Thing with Loki. Entering middle age with him, getting old. It wouldn’t be so bad, growing old with a good friend. Better than ending up alone, surely. And the sex would be worth it.

_But let’s face it, we’re never going to be Jane and Thor, are we?_

She didn’t want romance from Loki.

Maybe she’d have to get out of this eventually, but for now it was fine. That’s all. Just fine.

She shuffled back downstairs, hair damp and curling slightly against her shoulders, finding a missed call on her phone.

“Has Thor been trying to call you?” she asked Loki.

“No.”

“Huh. He never calls me unless he’s trying to get you.”

“Maybe it’s Jane using his phone.” Loki suggested.

“Maybe.”

She called him back.

“Darcy?”

“Hey, Thor. You were trying to call me?”

“Yeah. Uh. Hey. Uh. Can I... Can I see you today? Or tomorrow? Like, are you free? I need to ask you something.”

“I’ve got nothing planned except dinner with Loki,” she said, ignoring Loki’s raised eyebrows for the moment. “We could probably get more food in, you and Jane could swing by...”

“No, no, I’d... I need to see you by yourself.”

“Jesus, Thor, what is it?”

“Can I meet you somewhere? Coffee maybe? Around three?”

She checked the clock on the yarn store wall. It was 11am now.

“Sure, where?”

She scrawled down the coffee shop address on a scrap torn from the receipt roll.

“What’s going on?” Loki asked.

“I don’t know. He has to tell me something and he can’t do it over the phone apparently.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right, it’s weird. I can keep helping with the storeroom until half past two, then I’ll have to go and meet him but it should be done or nearly done by then. I’ll be back for dinner and... after dinner though.”

“OK. I might call Tony this afternoon.”

He just threw it out there. It wasn’t a question. He wasn’t seeking permission. He was just letting her know.

She nodded, absently.

“Is that it?” he asked. “No jokes about sloppy seconds?”

She shrugged. “No. Sorry, I’m not very witty today.”

He smiled at her. “That’s OK. I can be witty for both of us, as usual.”

Yeah. She definitely needed to sort her head out.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor was standing outside the coffee shop, positively antsy when she arrived.

“No Jane?” she asked.

“No. I need to do this in private.”

“OK.”

He bought her coffee. She waited politely for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind, but he didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry.

“So you needed to tell me something?” she prompted.

“Yeah. Look, Darcy, I know you’ve done a lot for me over the last year or so. You took in Loki, you kept him sane and safe, you know… all of that accompanying stuff with him. You basically ran my wedding.”

“I don’t mind, you don’t owe me anything.”

He laughed nervously. “No, I was going to ask a favor. Another one.”

“What is it?”

“You do knitting classes, right?”

_Well, that’s not what I expected._

“Yeah. Drop-ins are Tuesdays and Saturdays.”

“Do you ever do… private classes?”

“Uh. I’ve not done that before, no. Why, are you thinking of learning?”

“No,” he said, perhaps a little too fast for Darcy’s liking. “No, it’s not for me. I have this friend. And he has a friend. And… OK, so this friend of a friend of mine is in the army. Was in the army. He’s been invalided home. And Steve – that’s my friend, Steve – he’s trying to get him, y’know. Back in the world, I guess. But it’s hard.”

Thor wasn’t always like this. He wasn’t normally this anxious.

“And I remembered something that Loki said about knitting as therapy,” he was continuing. “And so I wondered… I wondered if you could help a friend of a friend of a friend out. He’s… he’s having some real trouble, Steve says. He’s worried, and they’ve been best friends forever and I said that I’d ask if you could… if you could hold a private knitting class for them. They’d pay you.”

Darcy considered this. She’d never done anything like that before. She’d heard about knitting as therapy but she didn’t know much about it.

“Why me? There are professionals who do this kind of thing.”

“He… He doesn’t want to see anyone he’d consider a doctor. It’s been hard enough convincing him to go through with psychotherapy sessions according to Steve. You’d be… He’d consider you safe. No agenda. And, uh… well, you’ve worked wonders with Loki.”

“Loki has issues, he doesn’t have PTSD or anything like this. 90% of his problems are…” she trailed off.

“Yeah?”

She didn’t want to say ‘His own fault’ because that wasn’t true. They were no one’s fault, not really. Choosing not to try to resolve them healthily for years, that was Loki’s fault. But she couldn’t say that to Thor.

“Nothing. But my point stands, it’s not the same.”

“How is Loki these days?”

“Ask him yourself. He loves you checking up on him, really. He just pretends he hates it.”

“But that’s exactly why I trust your assessment more. He’ll say he’s fine when he’s not, say he’s not fine when he is.”

“He’s fine.” she said, firmly.

He paused. “Look, Darcy, I know that you two are… involved. And it’s fine. I mean, I hope he doesn’t hurt you. But it’s… I’m glad that you’re… Yeah.”

She really didn’t want to have this conversation. Too many uses of the word ‘fine’.

“I’ll help your friend. Your friend’s friend. I’ll have to do some research first. I don’t think my usual approach would be right somehow. But if he wants to meet me he can swing by on Tuesday at our usual drop in to sort something out.”

Thor nervously tapped his fingers on the table.

“There’s… something else. It’s his arm, Darcy. He lost his arm.”

“What?”

“Steve’s friend. It’s why he’s home. He lost his arm.”

Darcy stared at him.

“You’re asking me to teach a man with only one arm to knit? Are you kidding me? You do know how knitting works?”

“Steve says it’ll be good for him. It’ll help him. It’s his left arm and he has a prosthesis with grip function. He can hold a needle, I think. A big one, certainly. He doesn’t like using it and Steve wants to try everything to encourage him. Please. Please just try, I know it’s a lot to ask of you.”

Darcy sighed wretchedly in the face of Thor’s pleading.

“Fine,” she said. “Fine. Send him on Tuesday.”

“I think it might just be Steve. His friend doesn’t like crowds very much.”

She drained the last of her coffee.

“Fine. I’m heading back to the Yarn Barn. It seems I have some research to do. And Loki’s making me dinner.”

“I never asked you how that is. You and Loki being together.”

“It’s fine.”

She could see that he didn’t quite believe her.

“Hey, Darcy,” he said as she stood up to leave. “Thank you. I owe you one, really.”

She wasn’t quite sure what he was thanking him for anymore.

“Careful. One of these days I’ll hold you to that.”

It wasn’t a long walk home from the coffee shop but her mind was whirling.

Help out a veteran. OK. Probably a first class ticket into heaven right there. But help out a veteran with a fear of therapy and a prosthetic arm and probably issues about said prosthetic arm and the traumatic memories surrounding the loss of his limb? By trying to teach him a hobby that involved using both hands precisely?

Thor was crazy.

And she was crazier for agreeing to try.

“Hey, Lokes, what do you know about prosthetic limbs?” she asked, banging the door of his apartment open.

“Virtually nothing.” he said, sitting at what counted as his dining table, not even looking up from his book.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Why?”

She took the book out of his hand, placing it page down on the table, and straddled him.

“Because your brother is an idiot. And I am too charitable.”

She leant in to kiss him. She was stressed now that she’d taken on another responsibility. Scared that she’d mess up, that this wouldn’t work out. That she’d make Thor’s friend’s friend worse. And Loki had proven himself to be great stress relief.

He made faint protesting noises against her lips. She drew back in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I called Tony.” he said.

She frowned at him. “Yeah, I know, but you know it doesn’t bother me that you see other people.”

“No, I mean, I called him and he’s… he’s going to arrive… soon.”

On cue, she felt Loki’s phone buzz against her thigh where it rested against his pocket and pouted as she swung her leg off him.

Loki answered it.

“Hey, Tony. OK. Yeah, I’ll be right down.”

He hung up and looked at Darcy desperately.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Go get him.”

“But what about you?”

She took a deep breath. An opportunity had arisen. And she was going to take it, before she had time to over think.

“You said Tony was down for threesomes.”

Loki stared at her. “You’re kidding me?”

“No. I want this.”

He seized her face to kiss her fully as annoyed banging came from the door of the store.

“I’ll be right back.” Loki said.

“I’ll be waiting.”


	3. Chapter 3

The wait between Loki heading downstairs and returning with Tony stretched out unbearably.

Darcy hesitated at the door of Loki’s bedroom. The sheets were still rumpled from last night, half a glass of water still on the nightstand, the shirts they’d worn to sleep in lying on the pillows. It was all so terribly domestic. She almost couldn’t believe Loki had arranged for a tryst without at least tidying a little.

She bit her lip and opened the drawer to dump some condoms on the bed. She had the implant, had it for years before Loki, but being careful never hurt. She got the lube out as well. She wasn’t sure what this would entail.

She’d never done anything like this in her life before.

She heard footsteps on the stairs, took a deep breath, and pulled off her shirt.

Loki popped his head round the door as she was considering whether or not to attempt sexy lounging.

“You are absolutely sure about this?” he asked, eyes not so subtly flicking down to her breasts.

“I’m sure.”

“OK. OK. If you want anything or you don’t want anything just say. I want you to be comfortable.”

She’d never seen him like this. He always seemed to be in control and unquestioning when it came to sex. She’d never seen him seem unsure about anything.

Tony walked past Loki into the room in the same way he did everything, breezy and confident. The only confident one among them right now apparently.

“So Loki tells me we’re playing together today?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, great! Shall we lay out the ground rules? Who’s touching who? And in what order?”

“I’m going in the middle,” Loki said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s my bed, so I get to choose.”

That sounded more like the Loki she was used to.

“I can work with that. Darcy?”

“Um. Yeah. Sure.” she stammered.

“OK,” Tony said, gleefully pulling off his shirt. “Can I kiss you?”

She stopped herself the second before she glanced at Loki. Like she needed his permission.

She crossed the distance between them and pulled Tony towards herself. He kissed the way he talked, all easy glide and sharp nips to her lower lip. He ran his hands up her back, fumbling a little to undo her bra. She jerked slightly when Loki suddenly aligned himself with her back, reaching around to unbutton her jeans and starting to pull them down. He gently raised her feet one at a time to let her step out of them as Tony drew away from their kiss to remove her bra entirely.

It was strange and heady to be undressed by two people at once and her chest heaved as Tony cupped her breasts, Loki having moved round to perform the same action on Tony as he had on her.

“Jesus, look at you,” Tony said. “You look incredible. Turn for me, I want to see you.”

Darcy felt exceedingly awkward, turning round in just her underwear, like she was showing off a new outfit. When she turned back, Tony’s arousal was obvious and Loki was ducking down to rest his chin on Tony’s shoulder, smiling slightly at her. He was proud of her, she realized. Proud to be showing her off.

“She’s something, huh?” he said.

“Damn right. God, I’m lucky to know you.”

“Mmm.”

Loki broke away from Tony, apparently having got naked at some point she was distracted by kissing, and approached her.

He leant in to whisper in her ear, low enough that Tony couldn’t hear. “You still OK?”

She nodded.

“Then let’s get on the bed. I’m going to eat you out until you see stars. Is that OK?”

She nodded again and climbed up onto Loki’s bed, not missing Tony’s groan at the sight of her ass as she crawled up to rest her head against the pillows. Loki followed her and was carefully pulling her underwear down her legs when he glanced back at Tony, still standing at the end of the bed in apparent shock that he was in this situation.

“You going to open me up then?” he purred.

“Fuck yes.”

The bed dipped as Tony moved to Loki’s side, allowing him access to his body and a full view of what he was doing to Darcy.

And what Loki was doing to Darcy was licking slowly up her inner thigh and breathing steadily as Tony ran hands over his back and down his legs.

“I hope you’re going to be able to concentrate properly.” she teased.

Tony laughed. Loki retaliated by pointedly ignoring her cunt in favor of kissing down her other leg. He nipped at her flesh, suddenly gasping when Tony started to move his hands with more purpose.

“Be a dear and hand me the lube, would you?” Tony asked, in the same tone of voice he might have used to ask her to pass the salt.

She tossed it at him as Loki decided he’d teased her enough and ran his tongue fully over her folds. She resisted the urge to clamp her thighs around his head to hold him in place as he began swirling his tongue, sometimes moving in a zigzag and sometimes tracing random patterns. She felt him jolt against her and freeze as Tony slid a finger into him, but he was soon back to pleasuring her.

“Is he good at that?”

She tried and failed to match his conversational tone. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s really good at it.”

“Hmm. Sounds like it. You want me to reward him?”

She wondered what exactly that entailed.

“No, not yet. I think the promise of a reward is better incentive.”

“Got yourself a taskmaster there, Loki. How come I never get away with saying stuff like that?”

“I’m his boss,” Darcy said. “In every sense of the word.”

Tony laughed out loud at that and she yelped as Loki sucked hard on her clit. She wasn’t sure if out of playfulness or to remind her that she was only his boss during working hours. He slid a finger into her, deliberately seeking out the one spot he knew drove her crazy, his tongue now lapping her insistently.

“More,” she said. “Please, more.”

“Shit, this is hot…” Tony breathed. “You gonna make her come? Fuck, you are, look at her eyes.”

She wondered exactly what her eyes were like for Tony to comment on them, but didn’t have time to consider this as she looked down and took in the full scene.

Loki’s head between her legs, regarding her carefully, Tony’s gaze boring into her as he continuously slid what looked like three fingers in and out of Loki’s ass, his left hand gently palming his cock.

She was right in the middle of a sex dream or something. This didn’t happen to people in real life.

Her head hit the pillow as Loki’s ministrations became harsher, two fingers knuckle deep within her and his tongue relentless against her clit. Her hips tilted up against her will as she distantly heard Tony encouraging her, or encouraging Loki, or possibly both. Her breath ached in her chest as she shuddered through her orgasm. Loki’s lips found hers as he moved up her body, away from Tony. She felt bad; he was the only one who hadn’t been given any physical attention to yet, but she liked to be kissed after she came. Especially like this. She liked to taste herself on Loki’s tongue.


	4. Chapter 4

“That looked incredible, and I want in.” Tony said from the end of the bed, seeming very distant from Darcy.

“So crude…” Loki mumbled. “Get up here if you’re coming…”

“I’m not coming yet.” Tony chuckled but came up to occupy the space on Darcy’s right.

He lay in the same position she had, looking at the two of them expectantly. She didn’t want to relinquish Loki’s warmth against her but it wasn’t fair to keep him to herself. The afterglow soothed her and she watched as though dreaming as Loki moved away from her to settle himself between Tony’s legs, bending his head to swallow his cock.

Tony moaned slightly. This seemed practiced. Common. Something they’d done time and time again. She regarded them abstractedly, Loki’s head bobbing before he started lowering and lowering, far further than she’d have thought would be possible.

Tony must have seen her expression. “He can deep throat. He’s good at it. Lots of training. Isn’t that right?”

Loki hummed uncertainly and Tony bucked up. She was amazed he didn’t choke. He pulled off, one hand moving to stroke instead.

“Please don’t do that,” he said mildly, but she could feel the annoyance thrumming just below the surface. “You know I appreciate warning.”

“Sorry,” Tony said, apparently meaning it. “You ready to ride me?”

“Absolutely.”

She’d become used to just how quickly Loki could apply condoms to himself, but seeing him do it to someone else was new. It was out of the packet and on Tony’s dick in a matter of seconds, Loki pumping out more lube to slick him up further. He lined himself up, doing all the work for the moment. Tony seemed willing to let him.

Loki sank down, brow creased in concentration and Darcy found herself thinking back to the first time she’d ever seen Tony, so long ago now. Or at least it seemed long ago. So much had happened since then. Since that time she’d come upstairs and accidentally stumbled in on them together and then Loki had propositioned her for the first time.

Such a long time ago.

She had a much better angle this time. She could see… well, everything. The way Loki’s lips were parted and how his chest moved as he panted, the way his cock leaked against Tony’s stomach, the way his muscles shifted in his thighs as he began to move making Tony groan beneath him as his cock disappeared and reappeared.

She was used to seeing Loki’s sex face. She was not used to seeing anyone else make him look like that.

She almost didn’t want to admit how much it was turning her on to see this.

Tony reached for Loki’s cock but his hand was batted away.

“You trying to come on my dick alone?”

“No,” Loki gasped. “I’m waiting for Darcy to be ready.”

Her eyes widened.

“You’re what?” she stammered.

“I’m waiting for you. I want… I want you both. Him in me and me in you.”

_Why is this hot?_

“You better hurry up and be ready, Darcy,” Tony said. “I’m not going to last if he tries to talk you into this much more.”

“OK,” she said. “OK, yes, but how?”

Loki sighed and lent back slightly, stilling completely.

“Tony, you can hold Darcy’s weight, right?”

“You’re mostly holding yourself up so yeah. Plus, what you’re suggesting sounds sexy as fuck so I won’t be complaining even if you guys crush me.”

Loki grinned, that strange feral grin he had sometimes. Darcy had learned to love that grin, it usually meant something fun was about to happen. The last time she’d seen it, he’d been licking whipped cream off her tits ten minutes later.

“Right, you, stay put,” he said to Tony. “Darcy, you come lie on top on him. On your stomach if that’s OK?”

That meant she’d be looking at Tony, not Loki. She hesitated, unsure if she wanted that.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I think it would be easier on me if she… basically straddled you while you straddle me?” Tony suggested.

She glanced at him and he reached out, grasping her hand and squeezing it.

_He knows. Oh, God, he knows. But he’s not offended._

She squeezed back.

“Not that I’m calling you heavy, Winter Woolens,” he clarified. “Just both of you lying on me at once might be a little hard on the old chest. Plus, I’ll be able to see better.”

“Wait,” Loki said. “Hang on, we can make this easier. If Darcy lies across the bed then we can both stand and no one gets crushed?”

“And I’ll take you from behind. It’s been a while. Not that I’ve minded how energetic you’ve gotten of late.”

“I can work with that.” Darcy confirmed.

Loki eased himself off Tony, wincing slightly. As soon as he wasn’t looking, Tony winked at her. She mouthed him a ‘thank you’. He got up, replenishing his lube for Loki’s benefit. Darcy watched Loki applying his own condom and allowed him to pull her across the bed.

He dragged her towards him by her ankles, until her legs were more accessible at which point he grabbed her and pulled them around his waist. It was weird to feel Tony standing behind him clutching at her calves. She could almost pretend they were alone otherwise. But she really wanted to see Loki fall apart around two people. God, she wanted it.

“You ready?” Loki whispered, uncharacteristically cautious.

“Yes. I’ve been ready for, like, five minutes, while you were clenching Tony into oblivion.”

She was goading him deliberately but only because she knew that he’d take her harder if she played with him a little. Sure enough his thrust into her was slightly rougher than it could have been.

He stilled, leaning over her body and taking the opportunity to kiss her.

This was familiar. The meeting of their tongues, the slight suction of his mouth against hers, was something she knew. She didn’t want him to draw away, didn’t want him to speak even.

“Hey, Tony,” he said, making eye contact with her before finishing his thought. “Fuck me.”

Loki shifted forward, deeper, when Tony penetrated him. His breathing was harsh against Darcy’s shoulder where he’d fallen against her. She kissed his neck, raising her eyebrows at Tony for just a second in a silent challenge,

He set a punishing pace that had Loki howling against her skin, the shock forcing him to move within her and the twin sensations of fucking and being fucked driving him steadily towards the edge.

Tony growled as he slammed into Loki’s body over and over, gripping his sides but not enough to still his hips. Clearly enjoying the fact that Darcy cried out in tandem with Loki in reaction to his thrusts.

It was difficult to get her hand down between them but she knew that if she wanted to get off again then her clit needed more attention and Loki wasn’t able to do anything except stay where he was, trapped between the bodies of his lovers.

She reached her goal, managing to rub little circles against her own flesh, her hand being slightly battered by Loki’s pelvis, but she could tell by the way his jaw was slackening that he was close to coming. Normally he could fuck her right through her orgasms, but today she thought that might be a bit much. It made her feel powerful to hear him gasp as her inner muscles began to clench, knowing that she was doing that to him. She bit into his shoulder as she felt him twitch and shudder, adding just a hint of pain to his pleasure. He liked that sort of thing.

He slumped on top of her, his chest heaving, his cock softening inside her.

Tony was reduced to panting by the time he finally stilled, soothingly petting Loki’s back as he pulled out.

“I’ll be right back…” he said, winking at Darcy again.

She tugged at Loki’s arms until he groaned and moved off her. They crawled up the bed and Loki flopped, incapable of doing much apart from accepting Darcy’s kisses. She gently trailed her fingers over his skin, noting the crescent shapes where Tony’s nails had dug into his flesh.

“You two OK?” Tony’s voice from the doorway.

He’d cleaned himself up and had a damp washcloth in his hand. Loki smiled at him lazily, one hand skimming down Darcy’s torso as she watched them kiss. Tony’s knew what he was doing, slipping the condom from Loki’s cock, causing him to groan at the overstimulation. He ran the washcloth across the back of his neck, over his shoulders. Goosebumps broke out over his skin as he cooled down. He started to shuffle under the covers.

“I’m… I’m going to shower…” Darcy said, ignoring Loki’s faint whine.

She let the hot water run over her skin.

_I’ve just participated in a threesome. God. Sorry, grandma._

Admittedly she and Tony hadn’t done much more than kiss, and she was glad of that in a way. She was glad that he’d sensed her uncertainty and that she wasn’t quite ready to have no-feelings sex with two people and that he’d respected that. But still. Something else to add to the ever-lengthening list of Stuff She’d Done with Loki.

She scraped her hair back into a bun and was thinking about going to find a t-shirt or something when she heard Loki calling to her. Practically singing her name.

She walked back to the bedroom to find Loki with one arm around Tony, beckoning to her with the other, the washcloth abandoned on the floor. She obediently slipped under the covers beside them, her arm brushing against Tony’s as they entwined themselves around Loki’s frame. She was sure that her wet hair couldn’t feel pleasant on Loki’s skin but he seemed content to hold them both close, occasionally kissing them.

When she woke up, still naked, Tony was gone and Loki was cooking her dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Tuesday rolled around, Darcy had done her best to find something out about knitting as therapy. She’d gone to visit her long-standing customer Peggy to ask her about it since she’d done it before, and had been given some helpful tips. Don’t pressure them. They’ll come around to it. If they want to talk, let them. If they don’t then they don’t.

She still wasn’t sure how to go about it.

She practically jumped any time the door opened.

At around five she looked up to see someone who was clearly lost wandering in.

Tall, blonde, confused looking. If he wasn’t who she thought he was, she’d be amazed.

“Hi, I’m… Steve Rogers, I’m looking for Darcy Lewis?”

“That’s me. Hang on, I just need to finish this cable…”

He stood politely, glancing around, taking in the group of knitters, the yarn displays, the slightly off-yellow walls, as though appraising his surroundings.

“I’ll see you in the office,” she said, leading the way, carefully ignoring one or two raised eyebrows from that day’s class.

Apart from a few dedicated visitors, having men in the shop apart from Loki was still something of a novelty. She could practically hear whispering as she closed the door of the office. She’d have thought the older contingent of customers present today would have been more subtle, but apparently not.

“Right, so, you wanted to arrange some private lessons for you and a friend?”

“That’s right.”

“OK. Have you ever knitted before?”

“No, uh. No, never. Never even held a needle, either of us. I thought it might be something we could learn together.”

“Right, so total beginners. And Thor said that your friend has a prosthetic arm?”

Steve rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Yeah. But… he has to get used to using it, right? He has to. And then Thor said knitting and I figured it’s not strenuous, it’s not going to tire him out or make him too stressed…”

“I promise nothing on the stress front. Everyone ends up yelling at their knitting. Everyone.”

“I’d still like to try. And I can pay you for your time, obviously.”

“Actually I think we should have a few trial sessions before we sort anything like that out.”

“If you’re sure.”

She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about any of this. Frankly she was regretting letting Thor talk her into it in the first place.

“Absolutely,” she said, smiling. “When is best for you? I can do evenings every weekday except Tuesdays.”

“Friday?”

“Sure.”

That gave her another few days to investigate prosthesis and try to figure out how to do this.

She did a coffee run once Steve had left, resolutely ignoring the fact that she was about to be teased for ‘organizing a date when she should have been working’.

“It’s not a date,” she informed them. “I’m doing a favor for a dear friend.”

“Loki will be jealous.”

Ah, yes, that was another thing. The continuous jokes that she and Loki were in some kind of romantic relationship. Which was ridiculous, especially as they didn’t even act like there was anything going on, of any kind, when they were at work. They were very professional. He didn’t even touch her when there were other people around because he knew she didn’t like being teased about it.

Sometimes she wanted to casually drop it into conversation just to see what reaction she’d get. _Oh, yeah, like I was telling Loki last night when he had me bent over the desk, we’ve just got new mohair in._

She’d realized with only mild surprise that the only people who knew she was sleeping with Loki were also sleeping with Loki. Tony, Clint, Natasha. That was all. And Thor and Jane, well… they knew something was going on, but they’d assumed it was a casual dating thing, not a casual sex thing. And Darcy wasn’t exactly eager to correct them. _Oh, no, I’m not his girlfriend, God, no. I’m fucking your brother, but it’s nothing more than that._

She reserved the right to be annoyed when people who knew nothing about them insinuated things though. Couldn’t a bisexual man and a mostly straight woman be friends without people assuming they were going to end up in bed together?

The fact that they had ended up in bed together was beside the point. It was the principle of the thing.

“Since she’s doing a favor for my happily married brother, I don’t feel I have the right to be jealous,” Loki said. “Everyone likes him better than they like me anyway.”

He smirked when he said it, but she still threw him a look. He’d been better recently. Much better. Sometimes she was genuinely amazed to remember how he’d been when they first met, how he’d been even a few months ago.

She was never afraid of him running away these days. He saw Thor and Jane together on a semi-regular basis. He seemed… happy. Content.

But sometimes he’d make little off-hand comments like that and she found herself wondering how long this sunny spell could last. This was very much the exception, not the norm. If the wrong thing happened she could lose him and everything that they’d built up over the last year. It was a worrying thought.

She settled back down and stared at her current project. It was a cardigan, with crossing cables knotting back and forth upon it. Quite complex. She dug out some scrap yarn and got some new needles, casting on a short row of stitches.

She grasped the left needle firmly and tried to knit without moving her fingers or altering her grip. If she trapped the right needle under her arm while manipulating the yarn it was possible. She tried a purl. That was more difficult and she had to let the right needle rest against the table, but she still managed to create a stitch. She kept going, steadily forming stitch after stitch for about four rows, all without using her left hand.

She sighed with relief. It was possible. If he could grip a needle in his left hand, he could knit. It would be slow, but it would be possible.

She spent the evening in her own apartment watching videos on youtube of people with prosthetic hands demonstrating various activities. Tying shoelaces. Unlocking doors. Opening chip packets.

It was incredible.

She found herself staring at her hands, feeling guilty for taking them for granted. They were how she made her living, really. She tried to imagine living without one of them permanently.

She would try her best to help Steve’s friend. Even if she only managed to help a little bit, she’d at least try.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve’s friend was… surly. That seemed like a suitable adjective.

Loki was seeing Thor and Jane, possibly just as an excuse to get himself out of Darcy’s way. He was surprised that she didn’t remember Steve from the wedding. She pointed out that she’d been more than a little stressed that day. But apparently Steve had remembered her, eventually, and he mentioned it when he arrived.

“Yeah, I remember, you were Jane’s bridesmaid. Sorry, I didn’t put two and two together right away.”

“Well, in your defense I wasn’t wearing glasses that day. Or as much knitwear.”

He laughed. His friend didn’t.

“Hi,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand. “I’m Darcy. I’ll be teaching you two to knit, hopefully.”

“James,” he said, giving her the merest of shakes. “But everyone calls me Bucky. And this is a waste of time.”

_Oh. Well. Um._

She blinked for a second. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’m sure if we work together you’ll find you do get something out of this.”

He shrugged but didn’t argue further. Steve glanced between the two of them anxiously.

“Since this is our first session I thought I’d leave it up to you,” she continued. “Whether you wanted to discuss what you want to get out of this, or if you wanted to dive right in.”

“I want Steve to stop texting me every hour of the day telling me I have to do stuff. Can we just do it?”

“Of course.”

She set them both up with thick needles and chunky acrylic yarn. Usually she gave beginners something medium sized but she figured this was a special case.

“OK, to start off you have to create stitches. This is called casting on. There’s a whole bunch of different ways of doing this, but I’m going to teach you the thumb method. You’re going to need a long tail of yarn, like this… And you’re going to hold it in your left hand.”

Until this point she hadn’t looked at Bucky’s arm. He hadn’t taken off his jacket and she hadn’t asked him to. She saw him use his right hand to obediently close his prosthetic fingers around the end of the yarn but didn’t stare. She was going to treat him like a normal student as far as possible.

“OK, now wrap the yarn around your thumb… And using a needle in your other hand we’re going to go through the loop you just made… OK, now use your index finger to wrap yarn from the other end around the needle… And scoop it through. Pull it tight. That’s your first stitch.”

It was slow going. Wrap, insert, loop, scoop, pull. Wrap, insert, loop, scoop, pull. They kept going until they each had 20 stitches lined up on their needles. Normally that would have taken Darcy less than half a minute, but she was making an effort to go slowly and to keep her left hand as unmoving as possible.

She talked them through forming knit stitches. All three of them let the end of their right needle rest on the table when manipulating the yarn. She hoped this was making Bucky feel included. That he and Steve were learning something new together would help rebuild his confidence. If that was even what he needed; she wasn’t fully convinced.

It was a very quiet room. She could practically hear the gears of their brains repeating the same actions over and over again. According to Peggy this was part of knitting therapy. The repetitive action and the feeling of creating something were good for relaxation. It was possible to end up in a trance-like state. In theory.

“So people do this for fun, huh?” Steve asked suddenly.

Darcy started. “Pardon?”

“People knit for fun?”

She had the definite feeling that he just wanted to break the silence.

“They do. I do. It’s nice to make stuff. And it’s peaceful, you know. Most of the time.”

“It’s slow.” Bucky said.

“You’ll get faster,” she assured him. “Everyone starts slow.”

“You do this professionally. How fast can you go?”

She hesitated. “It depends how complex a thing I’m working on.”

“OK then, what’s the most complex thing you’ve ever made?”

She shifted through pictures on her phone to show him pictures of an enormous lacy shawl she’d finished recently. Close-ups of several different stitches, different panels, different gauges of stitch. One of Loki holding the whole thing up because his arm span was wide enough to display it entirely.

“Who’s that?” Bucky asked.

“Hmm? Oh, that’s Loki. He’s my… assistant. I guess.”

“Huh. Does he teach too?”

“A little. He’s less experienced than me. He’s been knitting for only around 9 months.”

“How good has he got in that time?”

“Uh… Well, he refuses to be taught, and relies on youtube tutorials and books to learn, but he’s pretty good these days. He made the cowl I’m wearing.”

It was one of the more recent things Loki had made, experimenting with cotton and circular needles. She took it off to let them examine it. Bucky twirled it around his right hand, using only those fingers to feel it. He was amazingly dexterous. Darcy wondered how long he’d been back, how long he’d been trying to live with only one hand. She hadn’t thought to ask, and asking right now seemed… rude somehow. Like she’d be trespassing on something.

She decided then and there to wait for him to decide if he wanted her to know something.

If he didn’t like therapists, her acting like one by asking questions probably wouldn’t help him. And she wasn’t a doctor anyway, she wouldn’t know how to go about it.

Steve handed the cowl back for her to loop once more around her neck.

“So if we actually agree to be taught, how long before we’re making stuff like this?” he asked.

“Well… I’m not sure. It depends.”

“It depends how much harder it is to teach someone with no left hand, you mean.” Bucky said.

She spluttered.

“It’s OK. I’m aware. I get that it’s unusual. You can mention it.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“Do you want to see it?” he asked.

“Do you want to show it to me?”

He smiled at that. “No, I don’t. Not yet. Thanks. Not everyone makes it my choice.”

She pretended that she hadn’t seen his eyes flicker over to Steve.

The rest of the agreed hour passed in far more companionable quiet.


	7. Chapter 7

“How was it? First day of knitting therapy?” Jane asked over dinner a few days later.

“Weirdly OK? I mean, it’s early days yet, but I think it might work out.”

“Did they seem… interested in knitting?”

“Difficult to say. They weren’t outright dismissive. They’ve probably done their own research. Or rather Steve’s probably done his own research.”

“And how much are you charging them?”

“I, uh… Well, right now I’m not.”

“Darcy!”

“What?”

“You always do this. You let people take advantage of you too much. You need to stop doing favors.”

“In my defense, I’m doing favors for your husband.”

“Still. When you started actually charging a tiny bit for coffee a few months ago, suddenly your profits had a hefty jump as I recall.”

“I don’t need profits. I don’t want to fleece people. Especially not people in need. I’m paying all my bills, I’m keeping up my student loan payments. That’s enough.”

“I’m just saying, maybe having a savings bubble would be a good idea. You never know when your rent’s going to go up, or you’re going to have to make a repair or a pipe’s going to burst. It pays to be prepared, that’s all I’m saying.”

“You know that I don’t rent the store, right? I inherited it, along with its mortgage. Typical that I own the place I work, not the place I live.”

“How come you don’t live in the apartment above it then? You wouldn’t have to rent anywhere and you could pay off the mortgage faster.”

“Because it was full of boxes of yarn and there was no space. We only cleared them down to the storeroom a couple of months ago.”

“Well, there you go. You could move in.”

Darcy laughed. “What? No. If I lived there then where would Loki live?”

“I meant that you could move in together.”

Darcy’s face fell. “You’re joking, right?”

“Well, why not?”

“Because… because that’s just not feasible. We’re… no.”

“It was just an idea. You two seem pretty serious these days.”

“We’re not, we’re really not. Can we drop this, please?”

Jane scrutinized her. “OK, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, please, you’re hiding something and you know it.”

Darcy shifted in her seat. “It’s nothing. At least, it’s nothing you need to know.”

“Oh, come on. I’m your best friend. You know everything about me.”

“Seriously, drop it.”

There were things she was comfortable talking with Jane about. Most things, in fact. But she didn’t want to tell Jane that she and Loki weren’t in a moving-in type relationship. At least, not when there was only one bedroom.

If she told Jane, Jane would tell Thor, and before she knew it, Loki would be asking her why she was getting his brother to pressure him into a monogamous relationship when that wasn’t their Thing.

Thor thought Loki’s promiscuity was his fault. And he thought it was unhealthy. Loki clearly hadn’t explained his set up to his brother. One night stands were virtually unheard of for him, except with people he already knew who had unexpectedly walked temporarily into his life. He genuinely trusted everyone he slept with. Perhaps to different degrees; she liked to think that he trusted her more than he trusted Tony for example, even though their Thing wasn’t as long-established. Including herself, she knew of four regular partners and several more people who he would occasionally booty call. But Thor and Jane had the whole marriage thing down. And that was fine for them. Darcy could imagine herself in a similar set-up. But she couldn’t picture Loki managing it.

It didn’t bother her, but it would bother Thor. And she knew she’d have to explain it to him since Loki wouldn’t and it would be horribly awkward and she wanted to put that off for as long as humanly possible.

Thor thought it was his fault, thought that because Loki had a strange blend of brotherly and… non-brotherly love for Thor, that he was trying to fill what he perceived as a gap in his life with sex. And that wasn’t true. Admittedly, sometimes Loki had a habit of using it as stress-relief, but she did that too. Loki was careful and he practiced safe sex.

It was actually one of the few things he seemed to have figured out, considering how many times he abandoned his life and started over before he’d ended up in the Yarn Barn. He could be petty, disrespectful, self-destructive even, but his sex life wasn’t part of that.

Darcy really needed to figure out an articulate way of expressing that before Jane or Thor found out about the Thing.

Jane didn’t question her any further about that subject and instead went back to her plans for knitting therapy.

“I’m worried they’re going to get bored, really,” Darcy said. “There are only two stitches. It’s either knit or purl, and for me the fun comes from messing around with them and seeing what I can do but that’s too advanced for them at the moment.”

“What do you normally do with beginners?”

“I try to make them non-beginners pretty quickly. Or these days I palm them off onto Loki and make him deal with them.”

“I’m guessing you don’t want to try the Loki route?”

“No, I don’t… I don’t think that would be a good idea. I feel I’m less threatening somehow, I don’t know. I want to do this myself.”

Jane nodded understandingly.

“What do the books say about it?” she asked.

“They say that the repetition should help. That steady movement is relaxing and that it’s good for you.”

“I think you’re just going to have to tough it out then. If it’ll make him better, it’s what you have to do.”

“I guess.”

“Thor’s really grateful to you for doing this, you know. He’s… he’s weirdly awkward around you.”

_Can’t think of a single reason why. It’s not like I know all about his deeply embedded fears about his brother and I know that he thinks he isn’t good enough for you and so when he looks at me he sees a lot of insecurities reflected right back in a 5”4’ package who is boning said brother._

She shrugged. “Probably just because we tend to see each other in stressful circumstances. Like weddings. And when he wants to ask me a favor.”

“You should have dinner with us both. It’s been ages. You and Loki should both come.”

_Oh, danger._

“Sure,” she said, unable to think of an excuse. “That’ll be nice. Text me, we’ll sort something out.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Why are we going to dinner with Thor and Jane together?” Loki demanded via text that evening.

“They think we’re dating” Darcy texted back.

“We’re not.”

“I know. Hard to explain. It’ll be fun.”

No response.

The next time her phone beeped it was Jane suggesting Saturday night. Darcy confirmed she could make it, wondering if Loki was going to try to think of an excuse. She didn’t really mind if he did.

He didn’t even seem annoyed with her that week. She apologized for not discouraging Jane but he shrugged it off.

“It’s OK,” he said. “How hard can it be? We go, we have dinner, we resist any and all questions about our relationship so as not to offend Thor’s sensibilities. Everyone thinks everyone else is totally normal. And then we come back here and you reward me for being such a good boy.”

“Oh, I do, do I?”

“It could be a mutual thing. I’m willing to negotiate.”

She shoved him, but couldn’t deny she was sort of looking forward to it. Maybe it would be fun.

More fun than another round of knitting therapy. The more she thought about it, the less she was sure about it. Another hour of mostly silent knit stitches was not exactly appealing.

It would really help if she had any idea what she was doing.

Loki hadn’t found anywhere else to be but had decided to hide in his apartment while the session was going on.

Bucky took off his jacket when he arrived and Darcy saw the arm for the first time. She was careful not to stare but couldn’t resist a glance.

The prosthetic joined his arm halfway along his upper arm. The color changed at his wrist, from silver-gray to peach, like the end of a sleeve. She wondered if he could change his hands. Again, she wasn’t going to ask.

She refreshed their memories of how to form stitches, and let them get started. After a few moments she fetched her cardigan, deciding that taking part in their knit-along wasn’t actually going to do them much good at this stage.

She felt Bucky’s eyes on her as she started forming cables.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh, these are cables. There’s two ways to do these, the right way and the way I’m doing them.”

He chuckled. “How are you meant to do them?”

“It’s, uh… it’s a little complex. You’re meant to use three needles. You’re meant to use a third needle to hold some stitches because you’re literally twisting the fabric, making these crossovers… Like this.”

As she leant over to show him, her arm brushed against his prosthetic. It was colder than flesh would have been, but not unpleasant.

“What I’m doing, because I’m always losing my cable needles,” she continued, “Is twisting the fabric before I knit them, rather than after. It’s riskier, because I’m more likely to drop the stitches, but if I grip everything tightly enough then I can do it.”

He watched her carefully and then deliberately moved away from her. She retreated back to her own space.

“Yeah, well,” he said. “Guess I won’t be working those any time soon.”

“I think it’s a little advanced for us.” Steve said carefully.

Bucky glared at him. “You know what I mean. You saw how her fingers worked, I can’t hope of ever doing something as complicated as that.”

“Maybe, if we try…”

“No! I don’t want to try! I came to the stupid knit class, I tried. Why are you so obsessed with pushing me?”

“I want to help you.”

“Don’t!”

Darcy did not know what to do. There was yelling in her store all of a sudden. No one should yell at other people in here. Yelling was reserved for uncooperative projects and mistakes in patterns.

She held up a hand. “Steve, would you mind stepping into the office for just a second. Please?”

He opened his mouth as if to protest, but he seemed to think better of it. He did as she asked.

Bucky wouldn’t make eye-contact.

“I’m sorry,” he said eventually, “I didn’t mean to say your knit class is stupid. I don’t think that, you are very skilled.”

“Thank you.”

He took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Would you like to continue with this?” she asked. “Do you think it will be helpful for you?”

“I’d… I think it might be. The first time, once we got going, I… I did find it relaxing. Quiet. It was nice to focus on something.”

“OK. Then we’ll keep going. And we don’t have to speak if you don’t want to.”

“I think the… the silence makes Steve nervous.”

“This isn’t about Steve.”

He scoffed. “Of course it’s about Steve. It’s because he’s worried about me, doesn’t trust me to cope on my own, wants to hold my hand like we’re kids again. I’m only doing this so he’ll stop bothering me about it. I swear it’s like he’s the one who lost an arm sometimes. We’ve been best friends since we were really little. And then we grew up, he got a job, I joined the army, got my arm blown off, came back. Took up knitting, apparently.”

Darcy hesitated.

“Should we keep going?”

“Yeah.”

“Should I go get Steve?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want me to… put on some music or something? So we don’t have to sit in total silence?”

“OK.”

She brought Steve back, explained their music plan, and set about putting that into action.

She didn’t have any speakers and went upstairs to borrow Loki’s.

“Are you alright?” he asked when she appeared. “I heard yelling.”

“I’m fine, there was just a… a short spirited discussion. Everything’s OK now.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I’m comfortable knowing you’re in this situation. It’s not safe.”

“Not safe?”

“Thor shouldn’t have put you in a situation where you are alone with two strange men.”

“He knows Steve, it’s fine. You know Steve.”

“Only a little bit. And most assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows anyway.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Jesus, Loki, thanks.”

“I’m just saying. And we don’t know this other guy at all.”

“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to protect me, I can look after myself. Besides, taking up knitting is a really convoluted way of trying to… do anything to someone, even if they would, which they wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I was left alone with you before I knew anything about you. You could have been dangerous. It’s the same thing.”

“That was different.”

“It really wasn’t.” She snatched the speakers from where they rested on his table. “I just came to borrow these, if that’s alright? What’s got into you?”

He sighed. “Nothing. I guess I’m just dreading this dinner with Jane and Thor tomorrow. You realize they’re basically going to try to make us get married? They’ll try to make us into mini-them.”

“And you think I’m looking forward to it? I just want to get through the next twenty minutes and then go home and sleep.”

“You’re not staying here tonight? Easier for knit class tomorrow…”

“No. I want to go home to my own bed. I’m tired.”

He looked offended but kept it out of his voice. “Fine. Leave the speakers downstairs. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She spent another 20 minutes of quiet knitting time with Steve and Bucky. At least this time they had some background noise.


	9. Chapter 9

She didn’t see Loki in the morning. Eventually he surfaced around 1pm and was apparently upset that she hadn’t gone up to check on him.

“I figured you were sleeping.” she said shrugging.

“I could’ve been dead.”

“You’re an adult, you can look after yourself. Most of the time.”

He didn’t speak to her for most of the rest of the day. She spoke to him and got either non-verbal responses or one-syllable answers. No one in Saturday knit class seemed to notice.

All she wanted to do was to run home, have a long bath with a glass of wine, watch something terrible and let Loki burn off whatever anger he suddenly had.

But she couldn’t, because dinner.

She was really dreading this now.

They took a taxi to Thor and Jane’s place, without a word. The driver turned the radio up, Darcy’s nervousness infecting him.

When they stood outside the front door, hearing keys in the lock, Loki threw a hand around her waist, pulling her flush with him. She barely had a chance to yelp at the unexpected action before the door opened.

“Hi, Jane!”

Darcy flinched at how cheerful Loki’s voice was. _Oh, God, what the fuck is he doing?_

Jane ushered them in. Loki took Darcy’s coat, touching her as much as possible. She didn’t even want to look at him. When she eventually did, he was wearing a loving smile that didn’t reach his eyes at all.

Thor was looking at them with a mixture of pride and apprehension. He definitely knew something was up. He could probably see just as well as Darcy could that Loki was playing a game that no one else knew the rules to. But at the same time he seemed really happy to see his little brother with someone Thor considered a good influence and a stable person.

It was going to be a long night.

She tried to steer the conversation as subtly as possible. Jane was writing some kind of extremely complex paper and was quite happy to talk about it for a long time. And Darcy was happy to let her words wash over the room, a comforting thing to distance herself from the fact that Loki was continually entering her personal space, stroking her hair back behind her ear, making her eat from his fork.

She was going to kill him.

She offered to clear the dessert dishes in the hopes of getting a moment to breathe. Of course Loki followed her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed in the kitchen.

“They want us to be the happy couple. I’m giving them what they want.”

“I don’t like it. Stop it.”

“No.”

She set her jaw. “Fine.”

He caught up with her as she walked back into the dining room, locking his arms around her torso and nuzzling at her hair. Like they were a couple of teenagers who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

“I have something to tell you, Thor.” she said, smiling sweetly.

Jane looked up at the two of them and Darcy could almost see the thought form in her head that Darcy might be pregnant. Even though she’d been drinking wine all evening. Typical.

“Yeah?” Thor said, looking at her nervously. Glancing over her shoulder to where Loki was, his grip on her now stiff and warning.

“We’re not actually dating.”

Confusion from Jane. “But I thought-?”

“You thought wrong.”

She yanked herself from Loki’s grasp. They stood sizing each other up for a second.

“Do you want to tell them or should I?” she asked quietly.

Loki clenched his fists and took a step backwards, bracing himself. Then he slumped, all the fight leaving his face. Most of it anyway.

“Whatever,” he said, sitting down opposite Thor again. “Whatever you want.”

_Well, at least he didn’t bolt._

She sighed and sat next to him, angling her body away from his.

“You two have to let me finish. And you have to promise not to judge us.”

Jane opened her mouth, all concern, but Thor was already telling Darcy to say whatever she had to.

“Ok so… uh… this is really awkward…”

“Is it?” Loki said, not even really a question.

“We got together the night of your wedding,” Darcy said, determined to get through this. “And we’re… we aren’t a couple in the way that you understand it. We don’t have a romantic relationship in the emotional sense. And we aren’t monogamous. And it works for us, it works for me, and I don’t want anything more from it than what it is.”

“So you’re… What are you?” Jane asked, once she was sure Darcy was finished for the moment.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t have a name. I don’t think it needs a name.”

“We’re fuck buddies,” Loki volunteered. “Come on, Darce, let’s call it what it is.”

“I don’t think of it like that.”

“How do you think of it then?”

“I call it the Thing. We have a Thing. It’s our Thing and that’s why I don’t want other people to know about it.”

“Oh, please, it’s because you don’t want anyone to think you’re taken. It’s because you think you can do better than me.”

“That’s not true. You know that isn’t what I think.”

He shrugged. “It’s OK. I’m always on the lookout for more people to add to my harem anyway.”

Thor coughed awkwardly. “Can the three of us… Jane, would you mind stepping into the other room for a moment?”

“What can’t you say in front of me?” she asked.

“Please, it’s family stuff, I just want a moment of privacy with my brother and his… and Darcy.”

Jane hesitated but left the room.

Thor lowered his voice anyway. “I thought we were past this.”

“Past what?” Loki said, all innocence.

“You know what.”

“No, Thor, I don’t. Please, enlighten me.”

“You think I don’t know? You think I didn’t realize that the reason you always had so many people in your bed was because of… Because of me, because of this fucked up thing between us?”

“It’s not about you,” Loki said, more quietly now. “I swear, it’s not.”

Thor looked unconvinced and Loki sighed.

“Maybe it was, at one time,” he said. “But that was a long time ago. Since then I’ve… I’ve become better, I’ve learnt to deal with a lot of those feelings. It’s not about you anymore.”

“Then why?”

“Why not? Because I like it, Thor. I like having sex.”

“Yeah, so do I, but I don’t feel the need to have it with so many people. And there should be… There should be feelings involved.”

“Oh, there’re plenty of _feelings_ involved…”

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh, I meant it. Trust is a feeling. Friendship is a feeling. Just because it’s not love doesn’t mean I don’t care about the people I sleep with. This is just how I work.”

Thor didn’t say anything.

“You think I’m selfish.”

“No, I’m just… I’m trying to understand something that’s strange to me, that’s all. But you seem happy. You both seem happy. I just… I have my way of living and it works for me so I suppose I should respect the way you live. You’re not hurting anyone. I’m going to try my best to understand it.”

Loki hesitated before reaching across the table to grasp Thor’s hand.

“Thank you.”

“I just wish you didn’t feel like you have to hide things from us. We love you.”

“I know. I just didn’t think you’d understand. We didn’t think you’d understand.”

“I’ll explain it to Jane,” Thor said, looking at Darcy. “She’ll come around. She just… she’s a romantic at heart. She just thought it would be nice for her best friend to marry her brother-in-law. Very Jane Austen.”

Darcy laughed slightly. Loki reached out to brush her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

“It’s OK. I should have listened to you last night. You were just worried about me.”

Thor glanced between them but seemed to think better of asking anything.

Darcy tapped on the door of Thor and Jane’s bedroom.

“We’re going to head home,” she said. “Uh… Tonight was nice, sorry that I decided to drop this on you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I just wish you’d told me earlier. You can trust me, you know, I just…” she trailed off.

“Thor’s going to explain it better.”

“OK. I’ll see you soon.”

Darcy expected several confused questions from Jane over the coming weeks.

She didn’t mean to go home with Loki that night, but she ended up there somehow anyway. They didn’t have sex. They just fell asleep in the same bed. The bed they’d made and had to lie in now.


	10. Chapter 10

Jane was restless over coffee the following week. Darcy watched her pick up her cup and put it down again and pick it up again, over and over.

“Would you like to ask me questions about my relationship with Loki?” she asked eventually.

“Would you mind terribly if I did? I’m sorry, I’m just curious.”

“How about you ask me everything you want to know and then we don’t have to worry about this being awkward ever again.”

Jane glanced up at her and then back at the table a few times, clearly unsure where to begin.

“How many other people does he sleep with?”

“Including me, he has four regular sexual partners.”

_I feel like I’m at the doctor’s or something._

“And do you trust all of them?”

“I trust Loki. I trust that he knows what he’s doing.”

“I don’t understand how you can. I’m sorry, but how do you not worry about him catching stuff and passing it on to you?”

“We’re safe. He’s very safe. Condoms, lube, the whole thing. And I still have the implant so no worries about unexpected babies.”

Jane shook her head in disbelief. “It’s not that I’m judging your lifestyle or anything…”

“You are a bit.”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. “OK, maybe a little. But I just don’t understand how you can deal with it. I’d flip if I knew Thor was doing anything with anyone else.”

“Well, for a start, you’re in love with Thor. I’m not in love with Loki, we’re just good friends who have sex. And he has the same set up with all his partners. It’s not the same situation, you can’t compare them.”

“I guess. But, uh… Sorry, this is a horrible thing to say, but… do you think he’s even capable of love?”

“What?” Darcy spluttered.

“Well, you said he isn’t in love with any of the people he sleeps with, and you’re not in love with him so… What’s up with that, is what I’m trying to ask, I guess.”

_He is capable of love. I know he is. But I don’t want to tell you that for years he’s been in love with your husband, who is his adoptive brother, and it’s really fucked up and you are the only one among the four of us who doesn’t know._

“He’s been in love before. He told me.”

Jane seemed satisfied with that answer but her curiosity was not yet sated. “Does he sleep with men?”

“Yes.”

“Are you the only woman he sleeps with?”

“No. The split is equal, as it happens. Though… uh… OK, so, two of them come as a package deal type. You have him, you have her. Not always, but mostly.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “You mean he… he sleeps with more than one person at the same time?”

“Yes.”

“Have… have you… I can’t believe I’m asking this, but…”

“Have I slept with Loki and someone else at the same time? Yes.”

Jane stared at her.

“What?” Darcy said, crossing her arms defensively. “You said you wanted to know everything.”

“Sorry, I’m just… That’s a big thing to know.”

“It’s my life, Jane. It’s my body. He didn’t pressure me into it, it was my decision and most likely a one-off experiment. And me and the other guy, we only kissed really. There was no… we didn’t… Loki had sex with both of us at the same time, but we didn’t have sex, if that makes sense.”

“I’m trying really hard not to think too closely about it.”

“Well, just so you know. I’m not necessarily asking you to understand it. I’m just asking you to respect me and my choices.”

“I do. And I will try to understand it, I’m determined to. But, like… What do I say if someone asks if you’re single now?”

“Tell them to ask me themselves. We’re not 17; if anyone wants to ask me out they can just ask me out.”

“How would Loki feel about that?”

“I’ll discuss it with him if the occasion arises but I doubt he’d have a problem with it. We’re not exclusive. He never asked me to be exclusive.”

“Do you think he’d try to make a move on your new person if you had one?”

“Maybe, but I could ask him not to. Why?”

“Well, you said that he has a regular couple. So they’re presumably committed to each other first but have a mutual thing with one other person.”

“No, that’s not- I mean, yes, as I understand it that’s exactly how that set-up works, but that’s not what I meant, I meant why are you asking about other people? Has someone asked if I’m single recently?"

“Yes, actually.”

“And what did you say?”

Jane sighed. “I said you were seeing someone. Because at that time I thought you were. Sorry.”

“No. No, it’s cool, you weren’t to know. I hadn’t told you, after all.”

“Do you want to know who it was?”

“No. I think I’m better not knowing. I’m not sure I’m ready for a relationship right now. Another relationship, right now. Don’t bother telling whoever it was that I’m not technically with anyone. It would complicate matters I think.”

“Hmm.” Jane didn’t say anything for a while, then laughed at herself. “Sorry, I’m just having some trouble not being really invasive and that’s not fair on you.”

“It’s fine when it’s you. God, you’re my best friend, you can ask me whatever you want.”

“I just… did you know he had multiple partners before you got involved?”

“Yes. Oh, boy, did I know. I walked in on him once, I know the other three personally and they were not shy about discussing things in front of me… I knew. I know a lot about his sexual history as well.”

“So you knew and you still did it?”

Darcy shrugged. “What do you want me to say? It became normal. I got used to it. And we… we almost slept together a few times and then at your wedding… I don’t know. It was the right time. And we’ve been ‘involved’ ever since.”

“Do you not worry that he’s an addict?”

“What, a sex addict? No, I don’t think so. It’s not like he needs it, he just likes it. I mean… how often do you and Thor have sex?”

Jane shifted uncomfortably. “Couple of times a week, I guess. It depends.”

“He’s probably about the same. Me and him, we probably spend one night together a week. He probably sees his other single partner - if that makes sense - about the same, maybe twice a week. The couple come around about once a month and the three of them have a kind of date-night thing as I understand it. Then there are the occasionals. Those people who’re just passing through town and they call Loki up and if he’s free he’ll see them too, except it’s less friends having coffee, more friends having orgasms…”

Jane was staring at her in undisguised fascination.

“Sorry,” she said. “Sorry, I’m just amazed that you can talk about this stuff so calmly.”

“It’s normal for me now. I’m not going to pretend it makes me uncomfortable just to fit with society’s views on sexual morality.”

“That’s what Thor said.”

“Well, Thor’s right.”

“I think he’d been online. Reading up about polyamory. Trying to be very welcoming and flexible on Loki’s life choices.”

“He probably read the same articles I read when I was trying to figure out what to call it.”

“Which is?”

“The Thing. I just call it the Thing. I don’t want to label it any further than that.”

Jane nodded. “OK. You’ve convinced me. You’re happy; you’re emotionally and physically healthy. It’s not like I have the right to question your decisions. You’re both comfortable with what’s happening, and that’s what’s important.”

“Thanks.”


	11. Chapter 11

“So Jane knows someone who fancies me.” Darcy said to Loki the next day during one of their sale slumps.

“Hmm?”

“Someone asked Jane if I was single.”

“Who?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Why not? Pretty young thing like you, you should be dating.”

“You sound like my aunt.”

“I’m serious, why didn’t you ask?”

“Because I don’t want that kind of thing right now.”

“Oh, please, like you’d turn someone down if they wanted to take you out.”

“It’s too complicated. Like… it’s just too complicated.”

“Because of us?”

She shrugged.

“Seriously, we should talk about this,” Loki said. “Have I ever made you feel like you shouldn’t be seeing other people?”

“Well, no, but-”

“I have no problem with you seeing other people.”

“I know. But other people might not understand what we have and I… We’d have to stop.”

He frowned at her. “Well, I’m very flattered that you appreciate my prowess so much that you’ve sworn off romance, but surely if you’re that desperate you could explain it. The right person would understand, I think.”

“I… I don’t think they would.”

“Thor and Jane understand.” he pointed out.

“No, they respect it, that’s not the same thing. And besides, they love us, it’s not…”

“Not what?”

“Just imagine how you would feel if you started seeing someone and then they said ‘Oh, by the way, I’m also banging someone I work with, but it doesn’t count, we’re just friends’. You couldn’t blame them for not wanting to be involved.”

He considered this.

“I suppose not,” he conceded. “But I’ve always assumed this was short-term, relatively speaking. We’re not going to be in this forever. I don’t want you not to look for something else, something you want more, because you’re worried about hurting my feelings.”

“It’s not that. I just…” She flailed her arms. “I don’t know what I want, and I like the Thing so I don’t want to change it.”

“But you think it’s short-term.”

“‘Relatively speaking’, yes.”

“Thank God! I thought you were going to try to talk me into growing old with you for a moment.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad.”

He looked at her for a moment. “No. It wouldn’t. But I don’t tend to think about the future very much. Or I didn’t…”

“Meaning you do now?”

“Mmm. Sometimes I imagine me and Tony ending up grumpy old men together. And then I shudder and remember to always live in the moment.”

“Life with Tony could be fun…”

“I don’t think we’d survive for long without bickering each other to death. I’d rather live with you. I’d rather move in with elderly Thor and Jane…” There was a pause. “But I’m serious, if you want to see someone else then go for it. We can stop the Thing, if that’s what’s needed.”

“OK. I will.”

“And if it doesn’t work out, I’ll be on hand to feed you ice cream after the break up.”

“Thank you.”

“And then eat it off your naked flesh.”

“Yeah, yeah, I was waiting for that.”

It was something of a weight off her mind though. So if someone was interested and she was interested she could temporarily move out of the Thing. And if she wasn’t interested then she could just tell whoever it was then she was already in a relationship. Best of both worlds.

Knitting therapy went better that week. Bucky brought his own music, all jazz and oldies, not at all what Darcy had expected from him. She’d expected classic rock or obscure indie music, not that she had any objection to his choice. It made him more at ease. And as a result he even started to talk as he knitted.

“I didn’t really want to join the army,” he suddenly volunteered. “I just had to do something. They were going to pay me so I figured, sure, something to do while I figure my life out.”

Darcy was careful not to break her stitching rhythm, even as she saw Steve stop out of the corner of her eye. He started again pretty quickly, without prompting.

“And I liked it. I liked the camaraderie. I liked the feeling of belonging. It reminded me of when my folks were still around. They died in a car accident when I was 17.”

He stated it as a fact, not even directing it at Darcy.

“And I… after high school I didn’t really know what to do so I joined up. There was no real thought to it. And it’s 14 years after high school and here I am… Lost an arm. Gained a lot of experience in something I can’t do anymore.”

His left needle clattered from the grip of his prosthetic. Darcy automatically stopped Steve from reaching to help. He could do it by himself. This was part of the process.

Bucky picked it up with his right hand and placed it more securely in his left, starting up his steady knitting rhythm once again.

He didn’t speak for the remainder of the session, but Darcy felt they had made progress somehow.


	12. Chapter 12

Every week another session. Every week another story. Darcy learned little snippets about Bucky’s childhood. How he met Steve before he could even remember. How he was pretty good in high school but couldn’t afford college, even with loans.

Darcy felt guilty. She felt like she’d stumbled from high school to college, out of college and into an inherited yarn store that was keeping her head firmly above water. She wouldn’t call it effortless, because she had worked hard to be where she was, but she felt very lucky. It made her appreciate things more, she supposed.

Bucky stumbled over his knitting from time to time. The motion caused the fingers of his prosthetic limb to loosen occasionally. Once he brought a different attachment, a two pronged one, to see if he could grasp the needle more easily that way. He couldn’t. She never saw that particular hand again, though she was pleased to think that he was comfortable enough around her to change his appearance.

It was several weeks before he discussed how he lost his limb.

“Totally normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary. One second fine, next thing I knew there was a bang and I was waking up in the field hospital. Half the guys in my jeep died in front of my eyes, but I don’t remember it, and I thank whoever’s listening every day for that. There was no reason that they should die while I lived. None at all. I feel… bad. I feel guilty. Even though it wasn’t my fault and I know it wasn’t my fault, I still feel it. It’s tough. I know there are families out there who are missing their sons or daughters or parents and here I am, with no one waiting for me, coming home more or less fine.”

“You had people waiting for you,” Steve said. “I was waiting for you.”

Silence for several minutes.

“I know you were. But you’re not my father, or my brother, or my mother, or my wife. It’s not quite the same.”

“I suppose not.”

They knitted in silence for several minutes.

“I am grateful for our friendship,” Bucky said, quietly. “I’m glad to have you as a friend.”

More silent knitting.

“That means a lot.” Darcy felt that Steve wanted to say more but stopped himself.

They knitted in silence until the end of the session. Steve patted her on the back as he left. She assumed that was a good sign.


	13. Chapter 13

Since no one had to get up the next morning, the fourth Saturday of the month was Natasha and Clint’s usual time with Loki, and they tended to come to knitting class as well. Darcy felt like she hardly saw Natasha these days, since she’d changed jobs and couldn’t drop by during her lunch break anymore, so she looked forward to the their monthly visit.

Even if it meant that she had to put up with their relentless teasing now that she’d ‘succumbed’ to Loki.

“It was only a matter of time,” Natasha had said, shrugging, when she told them. “There were sparks flying around this place for ages.”

“There were not. Not from my side anyway.” Darcy had replied.

“Yes, from both sides. The sexual tension was practically edible. Also Clint, you owe me five dollars. I bet it would happen before his second anniversary here and I was right.”

“I’d ask you not to bet on my life choices but I feel that would just make you bet on them more often.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have any other bets on at the moment?”

“Just a few. None that concern you personally.”

“OK. Then I won’t ask.”

Clint had started designing his own knitting patterns. He started simple, colored scarves and minor alterations to sweater vests, but he was creating lace patterns now. Darcy had never figured out how to do that and she was moderately annoyed that he found it so easy. But his designs were beautiful, and good practice for the students who test-knitted them for him.

He wasn’t actually very good at knitting his own things, but he seemed able to instinctively tell how they would look when he charted patterns. It was really impressive actually.

Darcy usually tried to make herself scarce earlier than normal on these occasions but on this particular one Loki seemed keen to keep her around. To say she was suspicious was an understatement.

“I should go home,” she said as Clint and Natasha headed upstairs. “I should make dinner.”

“Stay and eat with us,” Loki said. “And afterwards we’re watching something with subtitles. I don’t know what it is, it’s Natasha’s turn to choose.”

“No, I’d… I have some stuff in my fridge I need to eat.”

“It won’t keep for one more day?”

She paused. “Why are you so desperate to convince me to stay tonight? I don’t think there’s enough room in your bed for four.”

He spluttered a little. “That… that wasn’t what I meant, I just wanted to enjoy your company for a while longer.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. And frankly I’m a little insulted that you would think that.”

She looked for the lie, for the little tell that would let her know she was right, but either he was being honest or she wasn’t as good at spotting it as she thought she was.

“Look, Loki, it’s… It’s not that I don’t want to have dinner with you guys, but wouldn’t it be awkward? I’d have to leave, knowing that you three are… you’re going to go and have sex the second I’m gone.”

“Not the second. We’d leave it at least a minute.”

“My point stands. It would just be weird.”

“OK. OK, fine, I just thought you might want to have dinner, that’s all.”

“And I would like to have dinner, but I don’t want to intrude on your time together.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding, we’ve been talking about inviting you for a while. Just come and eat with us. There’ll be enough food.”

She still hesitated. On the one hand she did feel like this was going to be disgustingly awkward, but on the other hand she didn’t really get to hang out with Clint and Natasha much and maybe it would be nice.

She finally nodded and climbed the stairs.

Clint was dragging the table into a more convenient location while Natasha was getting a tangle of wires out of her bag.

“Oh, hey. You decided to come.” she said.

“Yeah, well, we don’t see each other so often these days, I figured, why not? Do you need any help with… whatever you’re doing?”

“No, I’m just setting up the projector. Since Loki doesn’t have a TV, we bring this round for film night, play it right on the wall. Cool, huh?”

“Yeah. So what are we watching?”

The DVD was in French but seemed to be some kind of action film. Natasha knew Clint. Speaking of whom, it turned out he could cook really quite well. It was his turn to make dinner, apparently. Darcy tried not to wonder what other things they took turns at.

Loki still didn’t have a couch, but he had a lot of cushions and blankets and they ended up sprawled out on the floor, full of curry and confused by plot points.

“So the moustache guy killed her family and that’s why she wants him dead?” Clint asked.

“Just wait, you’ll spoil yourself.”

Darcy had deliberately placed herself at a slight distance from the three of them, letting them exchange soft touches and caresses in the glow of the projector. She sat a little in front and didn’t notice Natasha shuffling up behind her until fingers were lacing through her hair.

“What are you doing?” she murmured.

“I didn’t want you to feel left out…” Natasha said, stroking down over her arms.

“No, no, I’m fine.”

She tried valiantly not to lean back into Natasha’s touch. She wondered if this had been Loki’s plan all along. Get her up here and then let Clint and Nat seduce her. She watched the rest of the film (moustache man was the girl’s biological father after all but she only discovered this after killing him) with her head in Natasha’s lap, fingers continually carding through her hair.

“We actually had ulterior motives in inviting you here tonight.” Natasha said quietly.

“You don’t say?”

A light chuckle. “Have you ever slept with another woman, Darce?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

They sat for a few moments longer with the DVD menu playing, hearing the slick sounds of Clint and Loki kissing behind them before Natasha spoke again.

“Would you like to?”

“Are you asking?”

“Yes.”

Darcy considered it. She thought of herself as straight, or mostly straight. But she couldn’t deny that she’d thought about what it would be like to sleep with a woman from time to time. And she had known Natasha for ages. They were comfortable around each other. If she was going to experiment with anyone…

She looked up at Natasha’s face and squirmed around to face her properly.

“I’m… I’m not saying no. I’m just saying I’d like to think about it.”

“That’s OK.”

“And if I decide that I would like to… I’d prefer it if the guys didn’t watch us. They could join us afterwards, but… I don’t want anyone to see it.”

“That’s perfectly acceptable. In fact I’d be more comfortable with that too.”

“Right. Good. Then… I’m going to kiss you a little bit and then I’m going to go home and leave you to enjoy the rest of… this. Alright?”

Natasha lent down. Her lips were soft although the angle was awkward and Darcy soon broke away to move into a more comfortable position. They ended up lying on their sides, face to face, one of Darcy’s hands tangling in Natasha’s hair while in return Natasha’s ran tentatively over her hip and up her torso, dipping in and out with the curves of her body.

“Hey… We’re going to bed if the two of you care to join us?” Loki’s voice sounded very far away.

“No,” Darcy said. “No, I’m… I’m going home. Sorry that your plan to keep me here didn’t work out.”

“It’s your choice. And your loss, if I may say. Do I get a goodbye kiss?”

She let him pull her to her feet and lock his lips to hers before she drew away, turning to close the door just in time to see Clint pull Natasha’s shirt off over her head.


	14. Chapter 14

“Are you alright today?”

The question surprised her. She never expected questions from Bucky. Usually he talked a little. Sometimes about the army, sometimes remembering older times. Almost like he didn’t know anyone was listening and he just needed to get things out.

“Sorry?”

“Are you alright? You seem distracted.”

“No, I… I’m fine, it’s… It’s a private matter. Don’t worry about me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

She considered. On the one hand it might be helpful to talk about this with people on the outside but on the other hand her issues just seemed so trivial next to Bucky’s. She’d been thinking Natasha’s offer over all week, and had mostly made up her mind to take her up on it, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. She hadn’t spent a night with Loki this week either. Not that that was bothering her, he’d been busy and she’d been busy and they hadn’t managed to find a spare evening to be together. Darcy drew the line at lunchtime quickies most of the time. They made her sleepy all afternoon.

“I’m… I made a decision recently,” she said. “And I’m comfortable with it but it means I have to do something I’m nervous about, that’s all.”

“That was a very abstract sentence.”

“Yeah. Sorry, like I said, it’s a… it’s a private thing.”

“OK. I’m not going to push you, don’t worry. Sometimes it helps to talk.”

She sighed. “I’ve… changed the parameters of a few relationships recently and so it’s made me think a lot about myself and how I identify myself and… I’m trying some new things and it’s scary to try new things sometimes.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

She looked at him and he raised his eyebrows. “What?” he said. “I’m agreeing with you.”

“You’re making fun of me.”

“I’m not. Really, I’m not trying to mock you. I get it. Going outside of your comfort zone in even the smallest way can throw you. Like me when I first started coming here.”

“You were… scared? I thought you were just uninterested.”

She was breaking her own rule of not asking questions but he seemed willing to chat tonight.

“Yeah, I was scared. I… I haven’t really met anyone new since I came back. I hadn’t wanted to. But Steve here kept bullying me and bullying me and so eventually I agreed that I’d come here. And it’s nice. I’m glad I did. It’s nice to have something regular to come to that isn’t therapy. Or isn’t technically therapy. And y’know. I have something solid to show for this.”

He held up his in-progress scarf. It was lumpy and uneven but he had made every inch of it himself.

“So my advice to you,” he concluded. “Is to go for it. If you think you might benefit from this thing even marginally then you should go for it. After all, you can never tell when you’re going to suddenly not be able to do it.”

Darcy nodded. That was sage advice. And she looked at Bucky and wondered what exactly he felt he was unable to do all of a sudden that he particularly regretted.

And of course that meant that as soon as she got home she texted Natasha to say that, having thought it over for nearly a week, her answer was yes, and to ask when Nat might be available, assuming the offer still stood.

She laughed out loud when Natasha asked if heading round to Darcy’s place right away was moving too fast. After all, she didn’t have work in the morning.

_Well, why not? Why put it off any longer?_

She texted back and flopped back on her couch to wait. There was something deliciously mischievous about doing this.

_Gonna have sex. With a girl. Shit, how do you even do that? Maybe she knows. Maybe she’ll teach me._

She got up and paced around, suddenly nervous, jumping when her buzzer rang.

She was amazed how shy she felt opening the door. Like a girl on a first date.

“Hi.” Natasha said.

“Hi.”

“Can I come in?”

They sat awkwardly on the couch.

“So, uh…” Natasha started. “We’re going to do this, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“You… want to do this, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you… want to go to bed right away or do you want to kiss a bit here first?”

“Uh… Kissing first?”

“OK.”

Natasha lent towards her and pressed their lips together. Soft, gentle, careful. Darcy calmed down and started to kiss back. It was strange to kiss Natasha. Darcy had had domineering kisses before, passionate kisses, forceful kisses… but this was very simple. Natasha was in charge, clearly, but she didn’t feel the need to press too hard. She didn’t need to let you know, she just was.

Darcy found herself leaning back onto the couch, getting more confident and starting to touch. She let Natasha straddle her and ran her hands up her legs on the outside of her jeans, feeling the strength of her thighs. She continued up over the outside of her shirt before getting brave and slipping her hands underneath to touch Natasha’s bare skin. She was radiating warmth.

Natasha sat up and pulled her shirt off. Darcy took in her figure, all lean muscle and gentle curves.

“God,” Darcy said. “Wow. OK. Sorry, you’re making me feel a little self-conscious.”

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen your breasts?”

“They’re not all that…”

“Take me to bed and we’ll see.”

She let Natasha pull her up off the couch. As she led the way to her bedroom and Natasha removed her own bra, she was suddenly struck by a strange question.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Are you attracted to women?”

“In general? I guess so. I’ve never really thought about it, and I’ve only been with guys before.” She threw herself down on Darcy’s bed. “Why? Are you?”

“No. I mean… objectively I can say ‘Yeah, she’s hot’, but… I don’t know. I don’t think I am really, but I want to try this anyway. Is that weird?”

“You’re curious. Me too. That’s why we’re doing this, right? So stop thinking, get out of that shirt, and get over here.”

There was no force to her words, just a gentle suggestion that she knew what she was doing. And Darcy was very willing to let her lead. She pulled off her shirt and as an afterthought shucked her jeans as well, blushing to notice that she was wearing very strange hand-knitted socks.

“Are those… rainbow scallop-lace knee-highs?”

“Well identified. Hang on, I’ll lose them…”

“No, don’t. They’re sexy. They’re very you.”

“Oh, uh… OK.”

She crawled onto the bed and let Natasha take control again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's socks are a longer version of these: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/45839978_2c1ddeb2cf_z.jpg  
> Want to knit them? Pattern over here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-scallops-socks


	15. Chapter 15

She wasn’t sure how Natasha managed to unhook her bra without her noticing, but suddenly it was being removed and Natasha was laughing.

“‘Not all that’?” she asked. “Your breasts are great. I hope they get the attention they deserve.”

“They do alright.”

Natasha kissed her once again before bending take one of her nipples into her mouth. Darcy hadn’t been expecting this and arched her back automatically. Natasha placed a hand in the centre of her chest.

“God. I can feel your heartbeat. You alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s good, I’m just…”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No. No, please keep going.”

“OK. I’m going to go down on you now. And you have to be nice to me because I’ve never done this before.”

“Same.”

Natasha slid down her body, snake-like, and pulled her underwear off.

“Seriously, these are really great socks. I wish I could turn heels like you do.”

“Nat, please, you’re making me blush…”

Despite her giggles, Darcy couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious at letting her legs fall open, but Natasha’s tongue was on her almost immediately. She willed herself not to make any embarrassing noises but it was difficult. She panted and whined as Natasha moved back and forth across her flesh. The motion against her was maddening but not quite what she needed.

“A little higher…” she said.

To her horror, Natasha stopped and looked up at her accusingly. “I know. I’m getting to that.”

She bent back and agonizingly slowly made her way to Darcy’s clit. The room was filled with Darcy’s breathing and a sudden yelp when Natasha applied the tiniest amount of suction. Pleased with this response, Natasha began to alternate licking and sucking, bringing her fingers into play as well.

_It’s not fair, we’re meant to be new to this, how is she so good?_

Her orgasm took her by surprise, suddenly building within her and washing over her before she had a chance to stop herself from crying out. Natasha kept going until Darcy reached down and dragged her up the bed.

“How did you do that so well?” she asked between kisses.

“I may have asked Loki for a few pointers. His exact words were ‘Lick in patterns, suck on her clit, finger her while you’re doing it, and she’ll come on your face within minutes’.”

“He’s so terrible… But damn I wish I’d thought of that.”

“Look, Darcy, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to…”

“Are you kidding? Firstly, I’m assuming you’ve had enough partners who haven’t reciprocated oral…” Natasha tilted her head in agreement at that. “And secondly, when am I ever going to get this chance again?”

She scooted down the bed and started removing Nat’s jeans. There was something strange about seeing Natasha naked, a triangle of red hair between her legs, her nipples standing up just slightly. It was simultaneously exactly right, as though she was a painting or something, and so, so wrong to see her lying bare.

Darcy settled between her legs.

_OK. Vaginas. I have one, people have gone down on me, how hard can this be?_

“OK, so this is my first time and I didn’t get a crib sheet about what you like so…”

“Don’t worry. Someone much smarter than me once said that being eaten out was like pizza. Even when it’s not great it’s still pretty good. You’ll do fine.”

Darcy ran her tongue over Natasha’s folds tentatively. She tried to remember anything that had ever been done to her and tried to copy the zigzagging motion she liked so much. It was very gratifying for her to hear Natasha sigh above her. She grew bolder, glancing up occasionally to see Natasha’s head thrown back as she worked her tongue against her clit. She wasn’t brave enough to try sucking but when she started to stroke the inside of Natasha’s walls she began to use her thumb on her as well as her tongue and that seemed to work.

“Shit…” Nat breathed.

She kept going. _Repeated action, gradual build. Just keep at it._

It was a relief when Natasha finally jerked and shuddered beneath her, her inner muscles clamping around Darcy’s fingers. She couldn’t help but feel a little proud of the flush on her friend’s cheeks and her panting breath and the way her hair was fanned out over the pillow.

_I did that._

Natasha’s kisses were different now, all desperation and warmth.

They fell asleep tangled together.


	16. Chapter 16

Darcy was late for work.

The boss shouldn’t be late for work, but here she was, stumbling through the front door of the Yarn Barn a full 45 minutes after opening time, but well before the drop-ins usually started.

She was greeted by raucous cheering from Loki and, unexpectedly, Clint.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I finally made it into work…”

“Not that,” Clint said. “We’re congratulating you on what was apparently a very satisfying Sapphic experiment.”

“What?”

“You and Natasha had fun last night and we’re happy for you.”

She blushed hotly. “Why are you even here?”

“What, you expected me to stay home in an empty bed after you’d seduced my girlfriend away?”

“I didn’t seduce her! She seduced me!”

“Still. You called her out of the marital bed in the night, like a siren or a succubus or something.”

“You aren’t married, you don’t have a marital bed.”

“Anyway, she texted this morning and said it was amazing. You dark horse, you.”

Darcy cringed and went to make coffee. Clint was going to be unbearable with the jokes now, and Natasha and Loki would only encourage him. Ugh.

“In all seriousness, was it a good experience for you?” Loki asked when she dumped a mug in front of him.

“Yeah, I mean… Yeah. I had fun.”

“Good.”

“How about you and Clint? Did you two have fun last night?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

_How have I ended up here? How have I ended up from having a fuck buddy, which was already unusual for me, to sleeping with my fuck buddy’s other fuck buddy by myself? Not even a fuck buddy of my generally preferred gender._

“Do you think you’d like to see her again sometime?” Loki asked, nonchalantly.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“No, I was just wondering.”

“I was kidding. I don’t know. It was nice, but I don’t know. Maybe. But, uh… I don’t think I’ll be making your arrangement into a foursome any time soon.”

“That’s OK. When you inevitably change your mind about group stuff, you know where we are.”

Sometimes the way Loki acted as though he knew exactly how her mind worked made Darcy really uncomfortable.

Saturday knitting class was always better attended than its Tuesday equivalent, and had a wider range of ages and abilities present.

It was still a surprise when Steve showed up.

“Hey,” he said. “Is it alright for me to be here?”

“Uh…” Darcy looked at him in confusion. “Yes? This is our usual drop in.”

“Great. I’m the advance guard, you see. Bucky’s thinking of maybe coming to a proper knit class.”

She could see the hope in his eyes. The thought that maybe something had worked, that sooner or later his old friend would be the same as he used to be. Darcy doubted it somehow. He’d recover but he couldn’t be exactly the same. At least he seemed to be getting better, though she couldn’t help thinking that even if that were true she could hardly take credit for it. Therapists, proper therapists, were probably telling him to meet more new people. She was just providing a potentially safe space.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked Steve once he had his scarf underway again, following his lead and keeping her voice neutral but just below the level of general chat in the store. “The Tuesday class is quieter, it would be less of a shock.”

“I can’t do Tuesdays, unfortunately.”

“Well, I could ask a few select people to come along on Friday…”

“No, I think he’d enjoy… something more organic? I don’t know. I don’t think he wants anything artificial, he wants to meet people for the first time and for them to know nothing. It’s an experiment, I think. To see how people react.”

“An experiment?”

“Yeah. He asked me to come here last night after we left you. I think your talk about making decisions and identity and trying new things got him thinking. He wants to follow his own advice.”

_Wow. I followed his advice and had possibly one-off sex with a lady friend. It doesn’t exactly compare does it?_

Her phone buzzed on the table and she was confused to find a text from Clint. He was sitting at the other end of the store puzzling over a picture, probably trying to chart the pattern of some garment from a photo.

“Who’s the blond?” it read.

“Steve.” she texted back. “Long story. Knitting student.”

“Get it gurl.”

She snorted.

Steve glanced at her. “Your boyfriend?” he asked.

“What?”

“Texting you.”

“Oh. No, just a friend. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

They knitted in silence for a while.

“So you do think you’ll bring Bucky sometime?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s nice here, friendly, I think he’ll be OK. Would… would anyone here know about… about him in advance?”

“Only Loki, but he can keep a secret if you don’t want it to be common knowledge. What exactly do you want not mentioned?”

“The circumstances around how he was injured. I don’t think he wants to mention the army just yet. There’s… y’know, connotations and stuff there.”

“OK, no problem.”

“Thanks.”

Steve was quite happy to chat to other visitors, probably scoping them out for whether or not this whole ‘meeting people’ thing was a good idea. Darcy spent the rest of the class wandering from person to person making sure no one was struggling with anything, too shy to ask for help picking up a stitch or whatever. Steve seemed satisfied by the time they closed.


	17. Chapter 17

“So Steve might bring Bucky to Saturday knit class in the near future.” she told Loki as they sat in the office typing up that week’s accounts.

“That’s the fake arm guy?”

“Loki! I mean, yeah, but don’t say it like that.”

“How should I say it?”

“He has a prosthetic. But that doesn’t define him. It shouldn’t define him.”

“Sorry. I look forward to meeting him. It sounds like he could use some company.”

“Yeah, well, don’t scare him.”

“He lost his arm in a war zone, and you think I could scare him?”

“That’s another thing, we’re not telling people how he… how he lost it. And don’t be mean, post-traumatic disorders can be triggered by the most apparently innocuous things.”

“Did you read that online?”

She huffed slightly. “Yes, I did. I actually did some research. I don’t want to screw this up. It’s meant to be good for him.”

Loki looked at her for a second before patting her on the arm. “You won’t screw up. In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve hardly ever seen you screw up. Apart from that time that you screwed me, it’s been all downhill from there…”

She paused, mid-data entry, and tried to figure out how to express what was bothering her.

“Can I… talk to you about something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“It’s about… group stuff. And how I’ve decided that I’m really not sure about that kind of thing. And how I’d prefer it if… if you didn’t mention it to me again unless I ask you to.”

Loki blinked at her. “I didn’t realize it made you uncomfortable. You seemed OK with it when you invited yourself into bed with Tony and me.”

“That’s not… That’s not what I meant. And anyway, although I enjoyed… that, I don’t see it happening again in the near future. I’m not ready for it. I just want a bit of a breather, that’s all.”

“Are you trying to break up with me? Is there someone else? It’s not me, it’s you?”

“Can you be serious for just a second, please? I’m just saying that things are changing too fast for me. I’m saying that I was happy with what we had and, although I am open to experimentation, I would prefer it if you didn’t push me.”

“Me? Push you? I’m sorry, but I thought you were the one who suggested a threesome and I checked with you every damn step of the way that you were comfortable. As I recall you were the one who called Natasha last night and summoned her to your place to fuck. But somehow I’m pushing you?”

“You practically begged me to sleep with you, Clint, and Natasha last week!”

“I am trying to open doors for you. God knows you need the stress relief in your life.”

She hit save on their spreadsheet in the most aggressive way she could and set the computer to shut down.

“Well,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I guess I’m glad I know where we stand now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You sleep with me so that I’m less stressed. Probably makes your life easier, keeping your boss mellow.”

“That’s not why and you know it.”

“Oh, do I?” she said, standing up to get her coat. “Because I don’t think I do.”

“I sleep with you because I like it. And you like it. And because we both want to. Stop trying to make this mean something it doesn’t.”

“Because it means nothing, I know.”

He followed her out of the office and grabbed her arm.

“That’s not what I said.” he growled.

“Let go.” Darcy tried to pull away.

“This doesn’t mean nothing. It’s part of our friendship. It’s part of how I demonstrate my affection for you. I tried to give you some other options, maybe some opportunities to learn about yourself and your desires. You don’t want them? Fine. But don’t you dare act like your moral problems are somehow my fault.”

“What moral problems?”

“Come on, like your sudden shyness isn’t to do with thinking you’re a slut just because you’ve had more people in your bed in the last few months than the rest of your entire life.”

She barely resisted the urge to slap him. “I told you when we started, I only have sex with people I trust.”

“Bullshit. That’s what you tell yourself to get over the fact that you’re scared to let yourself have fun.”

She finally yanked herself out of his grasp. “Wanting to think things over doesn’t make me scared.”

“No, but it’s a handy excuse, isn’t it?”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“I’m going home,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to be around you right now. I think we both need to breathe for a bit.”

“OK, but don’t be too surprised if I’m gone by Monday.”

“Because running away always solves your problems, doesn’t it?”

Darcy wasn’t proud of getting the last word. Loki narrowed his eyes and turned away from her, practically running upstairs and slamming the door.

She didn’t understand how they’d ended up fighting. She’d just wanted to set some boundaries. Was that so hard to understand?

She couldn’t even tell who was right and who was wrong. Maybe he was right, maybe she was just scared. But if that was true, that didn’t negate her feelings. She did want to think things over.

And she thought Loki would have respected that.


	18. Chapter 18

She decided to go into the store the next day just to finish off the accounts. Nothing more than that, and definitely not to continue from the day before. She practically snuck in around lunchtime. After about half an hour she heard movement upstairs. So Loki hadn’t run off last night. She was almost surprised.

She’d left the door to the office open and Loki came downstairs and caught sight of her.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded.

She shrugged. “It’s my store. I have to do the accounts.”

“Hmm.”

She kept working for a few minutes while he lounged against the door frame.

“Did you want something?” she asked, as though nothing was wrong.

This was a tactic. She wasn’t going to try to antagonize him. If he wanted a fight, he’d have to go elsewhere.

He sighed. “I expect you want me to apologize?”

“You don’t have to. Not if you wouldn’t mean it.”

He entered the room and practically loomed over her. Darcy tried her best not to be intimidated. She forgot how tall he was sometimes.

“I suppose that’s fair,” he said. “But I don’t want to fight with you. I don’t like fighting with people I care about, whatever you might think. It reminds me of… some particularly bad times in my past.”

“I don’t want to fight with you either.”

“Will you look at me? Please?”

She dutifully stopped checking her numbers and looked up at him.

He sighed. “If you want some boundaries, that’s fine. But please admit that you were wrong and that I never pushed you. Or at least… if you felt that I was putting pressure on you, that was never my intention.”

“Alright. You didn’t mean to push me, you were trying to help me explore my options. In return I would ask you to understand that I would like to have the time to consider any changes I might want to make to the parameters of our relationship and to make them on my own terms. And that an agreement to do something once doesn’t necessarily mean I always agree to it.”

“Fine.”

She nodded once and turned back to the computer. She saw his shoulders slump out of the corner of her eye.

“Is that it?” he said.

“I don’t know what else there is to say right now.”

He knelt down next to her and swiveled the office chair around until she faced him, pulling her closer until he was between her legs, his arms inelegantly around her waist and his ear against her chest.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to what you were trying to say. And I’m sorry that I didn’t pick up on your non-verbal cues.”

She frowned and awkwardly petted his hair. “I’m sorry that I suggested you were… I don’t even know. But I’m sorry that I suggested it.”

He looked up at her and she kissed his forehead.

“Would you like to take a break for a while? From the Thing?” he asked.

“No. I like the Thing. I just want the Thing to stay the way it is.”

“OK. I’d like that too.” He paused for a moment. “I’m going for lunch if you want to come?”

“Sure, just let me finish the accounts.”

“I need to shower anyway. You have twenty minutes.”

She couldn’t say she was surprised when Tony popped his head into the office a few moments after the shower started running upstairs.

“Have you two kissed and made up then?” he asked.

“I think so. Did you talk to him?”

“After a couple of rounds of great rage sex, yeah. I knew something was up and… well, normally we don’t talk really, not about actual feelings, but… Well, I’m glad that I helped. What gave me away?”

“Loki talking about non-verbal cues. It didn’t… sound like him. He’s pretty instinctive about that stuff, I don’t think he actually sits down and considers it. I just didn’t think he came up with that by himself, not in one night.”

“Do you mind that I interfered?”

“No. Better this way then us tearing each other’s hair out for a month. Or him running away. I’m not sure that was an actual threat though, I think he just knows that I’m scared of that possibility… I don’t know.”

“Don’t try to figure out what he’s thinking, you’ll give yourself a headache. Arguments with him generally either burn out after a day or hang around for weeks, I just wanted to help things along. I will say this though: he cares about you more than you think he does. More than he thinks he does. And you shouldn’t take that for granted, because one day he might stop and if that happens you’ll never really get him back. I think that would be harder for you than you think. Tread careful, Sweater Vest.”

She hesitated. “How do you know?”

He smiled sadly at her. “Because he lost all real affection for me years ago. We’re still friends, more than friends, but… we were nearly actual lovers once. Who actually loved each other. And now… well, now. We’re close, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not what it once was. And I can deal with that, but I’m not sure you could. I know you guys don’t love each other romantically but there’s a level of care with you that I haven’t seen in him in a long time. You’re his best friend. Sometimes he just assumes people have made the same emotional jumps that he has and he gets upset if they haven’t.”

He let her consider this.

“Anyway, I am going to run back upstairs and get back into bed and I have always been there and this conversation never happened. We can’t let him know we’re ganging up on him.”

He winked and left. Darcy was a little stunned. She had known Tony almost as long as she’d known Loki but she didn’t feel like she actually _knew_ knew him. Under all the charm and jokes, he’d clearly been watching her and learning about her. He was looking out for her and she knew almost nothing about him.

Come to think of it, she didn’t even know how he and Loki had met. She just assumed they were entirely physical and didn’t necessarily talk much about their lives. Like they were a one night stand that kept on going. The idea that they might have been something more serious, and that this was just the husk of their relationship was… humbling, she supposed. And frightening.

She wondered if Thor was the only person who could be sure that Loki’s affection would never fade.

She wondered if he appreciated that.

She wondered if Loki appreciated it.


	19. Chapter 19

Loki didn’t bring their discussion up again that week. Neither did Darcy. It wasn’t an uncomfortable thing between them, they just didn’t need to talk it over any more at this stage.

Bucky came to proper knit class for the first time.

He was visibly nervous and didn’t take his jacket off. Steve sat on one side of him, Darcy on the other. He didn’t speak at all to begin with, but diligently worked on his scarf. It was now several feet long, and Darcy had asked if he wanted to cast off, but he refused and started a new ball of yarn. She didn’t press the matter.

He seemed surprised by the kind of questions he was asked. Darcy was concerned he’d be suspicious that she’d given people a warning before he arrived, but really she thought everyone was just too polite to ask him how he’d lost his arm. Instead her other students asked how long he’d been knitting for, how he’d gotten into it, whether he liked it. Safe topics. The same kind of questions they asked everyone new. The same questions they’d asked Steve the week before.

In retrospect she was glad he was here rather than at the Tuesday group. The older ladies were quite forward. She wouldn’t put it past them to have just asked him outright personal stuff straight away. And they’d have asked if he was romantically interested in her. That was always a fun moment. She wasn’t sure what it was with them, why they were so obsessed with pairing her off to someone.

His answers were pretty short. It must be strange to suddenly be around people again. He didn’t look up from his work. Stitch, stitch, stitch, steady and unhurried. It gave him focus. Every additional row was a sign of his time and of his work. And Steve sat next to him, carefully letting his right needle fall to the table in the same way Bucky was forced to, keeping their unusual technique the same.

Bucky awkwardly patted her on the arm as they left.

“I hope to see you next week.” she said.

“Uh. Yeah.”

Well, it wasn’t a negative reaction. Maybe he’d come out of his shell a little more if he kept up. Exposure therapy, wasn’t that a thing? Keep experiencing the scary thing until it stops being scary.

Maybe this would work.

“Are you staying here tonight?” Loki asked.

They hadn’t slept together since their fight. Or for about three weeks actually.

“Would you like me to?”

“Yes.”

She smiled at him. “Will you make it worth my while?”

“I like to think I always do. You make it worth mine, it’s only polite.”

“Hmm. And how do you plan to do that?”

This was a game they often played. And she was glad that he was still willing to play it with her.

“Well,” he said, advancing from behind the cash register. “I thought we could start by getting the accounts done completely so we have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow.”

“Kinky.”

“Shush. After which I was going to suggest we go upstairs and spend most of the next twenty-four hours reacquainting ourselves with each other’s bodies, getting over our little tiff and rekindling our friendship. Through sex.”

“And what will we do for food?”

“I have a variety of frozen trash in which will allow maximum satisfaction for minimum effort. And we can have fun burning off the additional calories.”

“I take your suggestion on board and suggest that the accounts can wait until Monday.”

“You’re the boss, boss.”

She frowned slightly. “Yes. I am. Which is why you’re going to go upstairs and wait for me while I decide what to do with you.”

“Oh, we’re playing like _that_ tonight are we?”

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all. In fact I insist that you tell me what to do. I’ve been losing sight of my place recently.”

And in that second, she couldn’t do that anymore. She crossed the short distance between them and threw her arms around his neck.

“Don’t say things like that. Don’t talk like you’re… unworthy or something.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just playing.” he said, brushing their noses together.

“Then I don’t think we should play tonight. I think we should just have sex like normal people who have sex with each other.”

“Will you promise me a torrid evening of role-playing next week?”

“Will you take me upstairs in the next five seconds and make passionate and violent love to me?”

“Yes. Assuming you never use the term ‘making love’ or any of its derivatives ever again.”

“Then yes, I promise to play whatever game you want to next week. And never to use that expression to refer to our recreational activities again.”

“I will hold you to that promise.”

He kissed her. She’d missed this. She’d missed having his hands on her and his tongue against hers and the feeling of his chest vibrating.

She broke away. “We should go upstairs before I have you on the floor behind the counter.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily object to that…”

“No bodily fluids near the yarn, you know the rules.”

He laughed and grasped her hand, leading her gently but firmly upstairs. He stopped in the door of his bedroom and spun around, pulling Darcy’s face to his and walking backwards until his legs hit the bed. He pulled her down with him, somehow not knocking their teeth together.

“It’s not that I object to the knitwear,” he said, tugging her cardigan off after taking her scarf from her neck and hurling it to the floor. “It’s primarily the layering that I have a problem with. So much of it…”

“I’m like a present. You have to unwrap me. Besides, I’m reliably informed that my knitwear is sexy.”

“Oh, it is. Nothing gets a man hot quite like bobbles.”

He rolled her onto her back once he’d unbuttoned her blouse and ran his hands over her stomach before pulling her skirt down.

“Can you knit underwear?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

“You can knit virtually anything,” she said, struggling slightly with his fly. “Why, do you want some?”

“No.”

“I’ll knit you some. I’ll get the softest yarn I can, baby alpaca or something, and I’ll knit you some.”

He shrugged his shirt off and shucked his jeans. Darcy took the opportunity to get completely out of her shirt.

“Of course, I’ll have to take some pretty intimate measurements…” she said, reaching out to stroke him to full hardness.

He groaned slightly. “I think I can live with that. It’d be nice to wear something only you knew about. One of my exes used to make me wear her underwear all day. It was far too small. The lace was nice though.”

Darcy’s breath hitched involuntarily.

“Oh, hello. Did someone just discover a kink they didn’t know they had?” he asked, smirking.

“Might have.”

“Hmm. Sounds like we found a theme for next week’s session then.”

She decided she’d had enough of talking and lunged at him.


	20. Chapter 20

She felt him laugh against her mouth as she dragged him on top of her. She ran her nails down his back, not overly hard, but enough to leave red marks. He nipped her lower lip in retaliation. She wrapped her legs around him, holding him close, happy to just kiss him and explore his skin for a while.

He pressed his thumbs over the outside of her bra, his body rocking gently against her, his cock hot against her thigh.

She was unwilling to relinquish him as he tried to pull away, his hand reaching for the drawer of the nightstand.

“You need to let me get a condom and you need to get out of this bra. You know the rules.”

“Hurry…”

He pressed a quick final kiss against her lips and she unhooked her bra. She threw it aside, aiming for the lamp because in films bras always somehow ended up on lamps, but it landed on the floor with the rest of her clothes.

Loki rolled back towards her and ran his hand gently through her hair.

“We’re OK, right?”

She stroked his cheekbone. “Yeah. Yeah, we’re OK.”

She angled her hips up to him and sighed as he entered her. For all she’d said ‘violent’, she was actually perfectly satisfied with just ‘passionate’ for now. Kisses and gentle moans and tightening her thighs around his torso, that’s all she wanted. Feeling him sink into her and then withdraw only to return a second later.

She’d missed the closeness and the intimacy of this. Kinks and quick satisfaction was all very well, but sometimes she had to admit that she wanted to be held and to feel wanted and… cherished almost.

This was how she imagined her future husband would act with her.

Maybe she’d have to negotiate with whoever he might be to also occasionally pound her into the mattress but if she was willing to marry him then she’d be comfortable enough to ask for that.

Loki seemed to want to draw this out and she was happy to let him. She’d got to the point where she didn’t even care if she came at the end of this, she just wanted to stay in this comfortable bubble where time didn’t matter and there was just touching and breathing and heat. She felt safe here. It was nice to feel safe.

It could have been minutes or hours but eventually Loki started to speed up. She hadn’t realized how sensitive he’d managed to make her but she was surprisingly close. She tried to reach down to her clit but he grabbed her wrist.

“Relax, I’ve got it.” he breathed.

He didn’t normally do this, he was usually quite happy to let her handle herself, assuming that she knew her own body. But apparently he wanted to be exclusively responsible for her orgasm right now. She flopped back against the pillow as he pressed his thumb against her, making small circles in the same way he did when he was eating her out.

She gasped. This was unexpectedly different. He watched her face with almost hungry interest as she panted and whined.

She was surprised when he came first. He hadn’t seemed close, but then again she hadn’t really been paying as much attention as usual. She was more concerned with letting waves and sparks of pleasure course through her body. But there was no mistaking that particular cry or the distinct softening within her.

He pulled out, only to immediately replace his cock with his fingers, stroking insistently at her and continuing to use his thumb until she shuddered and keened. He licked his fingers clean afterwards.

She only let him leave the bed long enough to get rid of the condom. She wanted to fall asleep with his hand against her chest and his body aligned with hers. They always rolled apart in the night, but she still liked to start off that way.

Loki made some questioning noises about dinner but she insisted that if they napped now they could eat at midnight. It would be fun. He reluctantly agreed but obediently embraced her.

She woke up first and decided to make food without disturbing him. She put on her shirt but didn’t bother with anything else.

She absentmindedly fished her phone out of the pocket of her skirt to put it somewhere accessible, but paused to read a text from an unknown number.

“Hey Darcy, it’s Steve. Hope you don’t mind, I got your number from Thor. Just wanted to know if you wanted to get coffee sometime?”

She stared at it. At the time it was sent she’d been happily lying under Loki letting all her worries drift away.

She didn’t reply. She put her phone face down on the floor. Loki grunted slightly at the sound but didn’t wake up. She resisted the urge to stroke his hair.

An offer of an actual date. Actual romantic interest. This was unexpected.

Or maybe Steve just wanted to speak to her in a more private setting to discuss knit therapy.

Either way, it could wait until after the weekend.

_Right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I shouldn't end it there. I felt that this installment had become quite long, and that at this point Darcy had made a few important decisions but was instantly faced with a new one so it seemed like a natural place to break.
> 
> There will be a part four. At some point.


End file.
